Ride and Prejudice
by M.F.K.Fisher
Summary: What do Dan and Blair really think of each other? Season 4:The story is canon, but all the internal dialogue is mine. External dialogue from the show.  M after 4X17. Storyline reflects 4X19 Petty in Pink.
1. From the Beginning

It was unsurprising that they had so much in common. For years now, they had been making asides and references that everyone either ignored or minimally understood. Only Dan and Blair ever got each other's layer of meta conversation. Everyone in the Non-Judging Breakfast Club glossed over whatever double entendre was intended. Serena would tilt her head to the side with her five million watt smile whenever her best friend and ex-boyfriend traded zingers—cleverness was a moot point in the presence of something so magnetic. Blair actually appreciates the quick jokes, the lightning fast way his mind works, but would always soberly pronounce to herself the inferiority of his station. It was all very _Pride and Prejudice_, but a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. And since Humphrey had no fortune or the taste to acknowledge his lack of standing, she enjoyed the banter but had no resistance to the idea that she was destined to for bigger and Basser things.

Her mind always chugged along this expected itinerary of her life and her train did not make pit stops for romantic boys-cum-men who had loyalty and tenacity like a bulldog. She witness it first hand when her magnetic friend, on a particular bad streak of luck, woke up drugged and amnesiac in a hotel room in a nasty part of Queens that even the immigrants had abandoned. Serena just happened to be the love of Dan's life, and despite not knowing anything about what she was like before they started their epic wrong-side of the tracks romance, Dan was fierce when he defended Serena.

"Drugs and a cheap motel doesn't sound like Serena." His hands were fisted in balls, deep inside his pockets.

" Sometimes, I forget how recent of an addition you are, Humphrey." Blair smiled sadly at Dan. "You met her as a girl coming home, trying to start over. I wish it wasn't true but, it sounds a lot like the Serena I used to know."

Blair watched as the judgment of those who knew better took over the Serena-in-rehab decision. A part of her flickered—maybe it was wrong to send her luminous friend to jail, Serena deserved an explanation before she was sent away to a high priced rehab center for derelict debutants. Lilly, Serena's mother, look resigned once the TV blared out the details of Serena's 911 phone call. Serena, her brave vivacious friend, sounded so confused in her recording.

"Here's a crazy suggestion, why don't we ask Serena?"

Again, with the undying loyalty of bulldog, Blair thought. Dan looked angry, his eyes snapped furiously from Lilly back to Rufus, his father and Serena's stepfather.

"You can't be serious, to admit her against her will is wrong. And if you do that you won't be able to take it back." He was seething now in his righteous anger. Blair rolled her eyes, when will Humphrey not get off on being righteous?

"But what if we don't and it happens again?" Blair heard herself speak. Even though part of her was uncertain, she wanted the safest path for Serena, a well-lit, medicated path away from the sleazy motels and fun pills. "I'm sorry but I'm scared for her. It would be different if she's never acted out like this, but she has!"

Serena was like a golden fury when she found out that almost everyone, excluding her ever-present white knight ex boyfriend, put her behind a gilded cage. She had made mistakes this year, that was certain-Colin the professor, almost breaking up Nate and Dan's friendship- but she didn't run away and disappear from her problems the way she had. Didn't redemption mean anything anymore?

When Jenny, loyal ex-boyfriend's sister, finally confessed, Blair was overwhelmed with the guilt in her chest. She had sent her best friend to UES prison, just so that she could quell her conscience. And she knew, that on some level, she sent Serena away because Blair just didn't know what to do with her. After all the progress Serena seemingly made this year, this retread was like a slap in the face and Blair did not want to be the one picking up the pieces. Sure it was selfish, but it was also self preservation. One does not stay in the eye of the Serena storm for long.

But it was all wrong. Serena, of all people, shouldn't be locked away like a mental Razpunzel. In her cab on the way over to Dan's loft, she wondered at how Dan held on to his sincerity and optimism in the face of so many opposing facts. "He's fucking naïve." She thought to herself with superiority. That wasn't entirely true. His naivety might have been Serena' s only hope in a time when no one believed in her. She grimaced. "Humpty, I guess even you can't be wrong all the time."

Next chapter: Blair and Dan go to Cornwall.


	2. Rough Riders of the Heart

Chapter 1 recaps when Serena was admitted to the Ostreff Center.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-

In about two weeks, after rallying her best scheming and detective work, she and Dan were in a tin can on wheels to Cornwall.

"Is the petal to the metal? Because I swear if I shove my feet through the floor, I could run faster." She gestured disdainfully at the dashboard. "At least there's not radio here so I'm spared your horrid taste in music. What was that right turn back there? I'm sure we were suppose to turn there."

" It's not that I mind a backseat driver, but how can you be a backseat driver when you don't even know how to drive?" Dan glanced in the review window and caught her bright brown eyes mocking him. In the two weeks they had spent together, partners in crime, he had come to appreciate The Waldorf (as he started calling her in his mind). She was witty and sharp, and Dan was pretty sure she read ever John Le Le Carré novel ever written. Blair wasn't unpleasant to be around if she was on your side, Dan quickly discovered. And while she was on his side, there were miles of legs stretched in front of him while they pounded away at the laptop looking for clues. And like all creatures of the upper east side, she smelled amazing. Dan pictured some Trappist monks in Switzerland, trapping rainbows and meadow dew to be distilled for girls like Blair.

"I offered to get us a car service. Professional driver. Comfortable Seats. Champagne!" She still had no idea how Humphrey had convinced to sit in this Model-T era lunch box.

"We're on a mission here." Dan's voice took on a mischievous tone. "We need to be able to tail people and move at any moment. Speed, if necessary." His voice inflected at the word speed like it was trafficking cocaine across the Arizona border.

"Speed? Please! As for tailing someone-a stretch hummer with a hot tub would be more inconspicuous than this." Blaire had certainly read her Le Carré novel. She believed in thorough and exhaustive research before embarking on any scheme.

"First and foremost, my dad swapped his 69 Les Paul for this." He interjected, "Second of all, the other option was the Lincoln Hawk Van—all I'm sayin', has graphics." Before Blair could shudder at the thought of driving in a glorified kidnap van, she saw the turn off to Cornwall.

In Cornwall, they had found Damien Dalgaard, the no good scion of a Dutch ambassador, who was helpful, despite his weird rat like manners. He reminded Blair of an aristocratic rat, but a rat nonetheless. By the time they had pumped Dalgaard for all the information his weasley heart could give up, Dan got a phone call from his bromance, Nate.

"Hey, when was the last time you talked to Serena? I can't get ahold of her."

"Yeah they took it away as part of her therapy." Dan grimaced, Serena's therapy seemed unnecessarily restrictive.

"Oh she's at the Ostreff? That's good, at least she's safe there. I was visiting my dad and I ran into Juliet's brother Ben? He was really upset and he, uh, thinks that Serena's in danger.

"Wait, what?" Immediately, Dan turned around and gestured to Blair.

"I dunno, he didn't get a chance to say. You better check on her," and Nate was gone.

"Humphrey! What's wrong?" Blair knew from the furrow in his brow that something was up.

"Look, we've got to get back to New York. Now. Serena might be in danger." Dan grabbed her arm and Damien trailed behind since they were giving him a ride back to the city anyways. She liked Dan when he was like this, all action and less of his neurotic Woody Allen schtick. 'Oh hell,' she thought. 'Did she actually think that she liked Dan Humphrey?' She clutched her leather bag nervously when the thought flitted away and her minded started grinding away as they took off in his miserable ride.

"Look, I think I figured it out, Serena had an affair with her teacher because—let's face it, it's Serena. What else is there to do in Connecticut?" Blair knew she was touching a nerve with Dan, but that minute spark she had with him was wholly unacceptable. "Then she came to her senses and discarded him like last season's Chanel booties. Then he became a stalker and she pressed charges against him. That should be a warning to you Humphrey." Smiling smugly, Blair was happy she had gotten herself out of that precarious attraction to the curly haired idiot next to her.

"Yeah, because it parallels our relationship." Dan was confused, what was Blair trying to say? That he was like this stalker guy who was serving felony time?

"Never realized literary aspirations? Check. Townie?" She cast a side-ways glance at him. "You're from Brooklyn, so check. Giving up everything to become Serena van der Woodsen's stalker? Check! Face it Humphrey, you're one knitted tie away from Mr. Donovan territory." She was triumphant now. She enjoyed drawing parallels like most people enjoyed a good ice cream sundae.

"Except for the fact that stalker implies one side." He saw a weak point in her argument and went for it. "Serena went to the Saints and Sinner's ball because she chose me."

"Yes, it was obvious this morning at the Ostreff center that Serena couldn't wait to be in your arms." Blair made her voice sugar coated, but venomous. Right now, all she wanted to do was derail thoughts of Dan Humphries and his very attractive hand gripping the steering wheel. She noticed the light sprinkle of brown hair that stopped right around his forearm, and his fingers, good lord, he looked like he could play a mean Chopin. What was she thinking? Blair slapped herself mentally.

"Except one thing, I haven't given up anything to be with Serena."

At this, Blair snorted indelicately, "Oh of course not. Besides your time and your dignity. You are chauffeuring me around aren't you?" She paused for maximum effect. "And I'm just curious, when was the last time you wrote anything? And scribbling D 3 S over your journal every night doesn't count."

Dan clenched his jaw. Blair noticed it right away since it gave a different dimension to his normally handsome, but not terribly devious face. As he chewed this insight over in his mind, he was taken a back by how right Blair was. He had stopped writing. Ever since that New Yorker story published-incidentally, the story was about Serena-he just sort of dried up, literally. He gripped the stick shift and pushed the car into fourth gear. The car gave a groan but obediently upped the ante on the miles between Connecticut and New York. He had to see Serena. Not only to protect her from whatever threat that she might be under, but to understand if his relationship with her was worth this constant chasing and longing. Maybe that was the reason why he buried himself in thoughts of her, because he was avoiding the truth? Maybe it was over all along and he just kept grasping at straws because he felt so little inside and he wanted to feel so very much. Lonelyboy and Serena the golden girl. That was suppose to mean something at some point. But now, it was all parts unknown. His gut twisted when he thought about Serena. She was just this thing that got under his skin in so many ways, good and bad. She was the person that drew him out of his interior life in Brooklyn, she made him write, she made him feel the tremors of life that was going on around him, and he had never let himself be part of the world before her. For that, he would love her forever. But this Serena, the one splashed across tabloids, was uncharted waters. He could see how easily the Serena that he loved came from the one that drank too much, partied too hard, and now sought penance for the past.

Blair watched the rapid flicker of thought cross Dan's features and negotiated a silent treaty with herself. 'Ha, serves him right for being mindless in loving Serena.' Blair looked at the road ahead, the unending strip of black asphalt winding a little too tightly for her comfort. But why was she mad that Dan was 'mindless' in his love for Serena? Wasn't that what she wanted from Chuck? No. She clarified for herself. The love that was Chuck and Hers defied this sort of puppy dog romance—he was powerful in his love and demanded her body and her soul. Nothing that was interior to Blair was sacred from Chuck, he sought out every crevice, every vulnerability, and god willing he would understand instead of using his information to leverage pain when he was hurt. Besides, she and Chuck were clear-eyed about human nature, something Humphrey's loving dad definitely blocked from his gentle son. 'Hmm, maybe not so gentle.' Blair pursed her lips thoughtful as she looked at Dan. He was pissed, his jaw kept flexing and she again noticed the firm way he was gripping the stick shift.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-

Definitely would love some constructive review, i.e. do the voices sound right? Does it reflect the mood of the show etc?

Chapter 3 – Blair and Dan confront Serena.


	3. Nanette is an Inspiration

Chapter 2 recaps the trip that Dan and Blair took to Cornwall. The Townie 4X11

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-

Dan was confused. Standing in the middle of the van der Woodsen's living room, Blaire was doing her lady vengeance bit in front of an nauseatingly calm Juliet and Serena. No one stirred. He barely heard Serena say something to effect that Juliet had suffered enough for the crimes of the family. 'A little Godfather there don't you think van der Woodsen?' Dan chewed on his cheek and watched as Blaire, again and again, pointed out the obvious flaws in Serena's logic. Juliet was the one that had lied and cheated the way into Serena's confidence. And once she had it, Juliet humiliated and exposed Serena to a scandal that basically resulted in Serena's imprisonment. There was no way Juliet should be free to do as she pleases, no matter the '_el crime de familia_.' Somehow, probably because the things of beauty like Serena do not understand true evil, she skated past them and declared war on her mother for a list grievances against her former English teacher Ben.

Dan had a déjà vu moment. This wasn't quite the same situation as his affair with Rachel, Serena's English teacher in their last year at Constance/St. Jude's but there were imprints of the same emotion. Serena being quick to defend Ben's nobility despite evidence to the contrary, her insistence to clear Ben's name—all this didn't quite add up to just clearing a righteous man's reputation. He thought about it, then discarded the notion. Serena had a huge heart, and that was just it. It was the thing that he loved most about her, that her heart had room for just about anybody. His cynical brain butted in, 'that's not necessarily a good thing,' so he shut it off.

A week later, with almost no real issues resolved except for the fact that Juliet had hightailed it out of town, again, the group sat down to a holiday dinner that was ill conceived but well executed. Dan thought it was ill conceived because it had been his idea to cook the dinner at the Archibald-Bass residence in the Empire. The two bachelors had possibly never touched a range top, let alone having a turkey baster on hand.

"Isn't that, erm, for fertilizing old women?" Nate had said, gingerly handling the device as if it were medical.

While Serena, Nate, and Chuck grouped themselves around a bottle of wine, Dan retreated into the kitchen where he was shocked to see Blair in an apron. He had just assumed that the weight of the cooking would fall on the ones in the lower social rankings, so what was Blair doing with a spatula? Apparently, it was cooking, and quite a Martha Stewart looking spread by the looks of it. Dan tried to steer the topics of conversation towards safe topics, like food puns and famous food movies, but Blair was a little oblivious to it all.

She had a lot on her mind. She knew that Chuck was leaving right after dinner to pursue Jack Bass in Australia. When ever Chuck was gone, she knew that meant new women, scores and scores of new women since Chuck had never been in Australia—even though he said he was going to New Zealand. 'I hope a dingo doesn't bite off his dick,' she thought to herself—only stopping her stirring of the béchamel sauce to laugh at the image of a dickless-Chuck.

It wasn't quite like high school all over again. They were all too old to be revisiting childish things, but it was good to feel the dynamics of the group as it had always been: Chuck and Blair sniping at each other, Dan looking moonishly at Serena, Nate being slow on the uptake, and then the unexpectedly warm and friendly banter between Dan and Blair. If anyone noticed it, no one said a thing.

"See I told you, food is more delicious when you cook it yourself." Dan stretched his long legs under the table and got up.

"Yup, that's why we're going to end this experiment in middle class living and have housekeeping to clean up." Daniel threw a withering glance towards Nate. Sometimes, the golden boy really had no idea how golden he was.

"No way! I stuck my hand up a turkey's butt. You're not getting out of your job." Blair was cheekily indignant. Dan had missed Blair giving the turkey a body cavity exam, and now he wishes he hadn't because that sight was something that only 0.01% of people would ever see. There was a little bit of Lucy in Blair, her crazy schemes, her general over the top reactions, Dan chucked at the thought of the show "I Love Blair." Wow, that was weird. Humphrey had a moment. Saying 'I Love Blair' in his brain somehow sounded nice. He didn't linger on the thought since Blaire's favorite fishy resident was making his farewells.

"Well, I provided the location so I did my part. Now I'm off to New Zealand, to enjoy a taste of summer and girls who like sex games in the rain forest." Chuck bowed elegantly at the waist and whisked himself away. Dan didn't bother to tell Chuck that in addition to sex games, jungles of new Zealand probably also offered malaria and its even more sexy shit-ass cousin, cholera. But who was he to stand in the way of Chuck's good fun? Besides, Dan had noticed Blair's flicker of pain when Chuck announced the "sex-games" part. He wondered if Blair could ever truly share Chuck with the world as Chuck demanded. There didn't seem to be a lot of wiggle room in the Bass world. But it was part of Blair's world, and she sat it in like the missing puzzle piece.

When Nate groaned at the menial task of clearing the table, Dan clapped him on the back and said, "I'll help you. It's only fitting seeing as I did the shopping, set the table, and oversaw the cooking." He saw Blair's eyes flicker to him when he said "oversaw," because it was certain he did no such thing. Blair was too involved with her Chuck drama to even notice that Dan was helping her clean and making sure things weren't burning as she waved around sauces and mixes.

Serena was explaining her plans for the holidays, and Dan listened along eagerly. Now that she had chosen him at Saints and Sinners, he was hoping that they would get some quality time together, sort out the deep confusion inside him. Instead, what he heard didn't please him at all. Serena wanted to use her holiday time for Ben. Yes. That Ben. The same teacher who used his sister to infiltrate Serena's academic career, causing her expulsion from school, and threatened god knows what else. His Serena, her winsome smile and brilliant blue eyes were asking him, merrily, if he would come along on such a mission. Dan wondered how a girl with such a light touch could have such hold on his heart. Serena figured, if Dan could go on a mission with Blair, then he could certainly accompany her, the love of his life. She didn't think too hard about being the love of Dan's life, it was her rightful place and she occupied it with aplomb.

Imagine Serena's shock when Dan, the white knight who broke her out of rehab, against the advice of everyone in her life, said no to her mission. 'Why Dan? Why did you say no?' Serena wondered. She thought that the time they could spend together didn't have to be just about them. After all, injustice had been done to Ben and needed to be rectified.

She could see Ben now, his soft eyes scanning the pages of her writing, telling her in his most serious and encouraging voice that she was talented, no, even gifted with understanding literature. She had never felt such thrall of appraisal and admiration for something that had nothing to do with her beautiful face and taut, sexy figure. Her face and her body, she understood the attraction. But her mind? Only Ben ever really knew her mind. Even Dan, at his worst moments, made her feel less than secure in her intellectual confidence. It wasn't because he thought she was dumb, it was that his mind always flew 100 miles faster than hers, ticking through histories, films, books, like they were easy markers. Dan was so much like Blair. They consumed everything voraciously. Serena thought about the odd comparison for a second. Blair was so much like Dan—why it had never occurred to her must have been an oversight.

Standing at the dishrack, Dan gripped the dishtowel and tried to forget that the love of his life had chosen him, and then discarded him just as easily. What should have been an agonizing decision, she made over bellinis.

"What are you still doing here? Shouldn't you be off living your dream? Days on end with Serena in a car?" Blair's voice suddenly chimed in from behind him.

"No, I'm staying." He turned around to look at her. "It's actually my nightmare. Trapped in a city with only Blair Waldorf to talk to." Blair chuckled before the verbal onslaught began.

"Nate's here. I'll share custody as long as I get first position." She wanted to assert the seniority of her relationship with Archibald.

"Eh, Nate's with his grandfather." Dan glanced at her reaction.

"Eric, then?"

"Gstaad, with Elliott." He turned a pleading eye to Blair. "Please don't make me go down the list. I promise you, I won't be calling. I'll be writing, turning Vanessa room into an office, and seeing Nanette at Film Forum."

"I'm seeing Nanette at Film Forum." Blair was a little surprised. But not really, Humphrey did share her taste in a lot of things in the life of the mind, but almost nothing else, she asserted to herself.

"You like French documentaries about orangutans?" He knew that this was a quirk of Blaire's. That occasionally, he was able to make the odd Godard reference or Voltaire joke and only Blaire would snicker in appreciation. Even when she detested him in his junior year at St. Judes, Blair still couldn't help herself when it came to wit. Wit was a great leveler of minds since it could show just who was more clever and adept by the turn of their speech. And maybe, just maybe, Dan was as good at being witty as she was.

"Nanette is an inspiration! Last summer I went to the Jardin le Plantes all the time just to visit her." Blair thought about the noble creature for a second. "If we happen to run into each other, please don't sit next to me." She knew, of course, that he would sit next to her. And that he would offer her greasy, hot buttered popcorn like she needed it.

"I wouldn't think of it at all." Dan smirked and returned to the dishes.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-


	4. The Kids are not Alright

Previously in Chapter 3 – Dan and Blair confront Serena and have a holiday meal. Serena leaves on her road trip. Also, I don't own gossip girl. No rights what so ever.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-

Chapter 4 – 4X12 The Kids are Not Alright

Dan was feeling a little gray. Throughout the week, Serena was receptive, with a smile hiding under her calm expression and eyes shining with the possibility. Twice, they had tried to meet up to clarify their awkward dating/stepsiblings situation, and both times Serena had not come, or was so late that Dan was forced to leave only to still miss his internship interviews. Dan was a little more than ticked off. On top of it all, he came to the Thorpe party, hoping to give his resume to an editor and instead, was steamrolled by Serena and all of her good intentions. It dawned on Dan that Serena had blown him off while she was scrambling around town trying to rescue her new project, Ben Donavon. Dan couldn't even begin to wrap his mind around how Serena could terrorize, in such an insistent manner, all of his optimism and hope for their future.

What he didn't know was that the last time he dropped by the Waldorf residence where Serena has been living, even as Blair upbraided him for being obsessed with Serena, she also saw Serena trying to catch Dan twenty minutes after he finally gave up and left.

"Is Dan here?" Serena had swept in and with her hair pinned in a chignon, she made a very good approximation of Lilly, which was exactly the intention. Serena had spent the afternoon with Chuck, impersonating Lilly to get into the bank's safety deposit box.

"No, he left twenty minutes ago." Blair was also getting ready to leave. "Where were you?" She didn't really feel like defending Humphrey's persistence, but it was nice to see that somebody had loyalty and patience in spades, something that was lacking in her world.

"I feel terrible about standing him up, but I found a copy of the affidavit. B, I think I can Ben out of prison." Serena saw the look that Blair gave her; it was withering and impatient. "What? You didn't know him, he was a good man before all this happened." Serena heart contracted at the memory of Ben's imprisonment. Since it was all Lilly's doing, Serena felt victorious that she had found a way to save Ben. For once, she was the going to be the savior, not the damsel in distress—even if she didn't consider that Ben was the one who set in motion the series of events that resulted in her being drugged and left for dead in a cheap motel room.

Before she knew what she was doing, Blair blurted out, "they're all good men before something happens to them." She saw the look of confusion on Serena's face. "Some of them stay good. No matter how they're treated."

Serena furrowed her brow. "I thought you hated Dan?"

"I do. So very much." Ugh, she had gotten herself in the position of defending Humphrey hide once more. "But whatever it is you see in him, he seems to see in you as well. I know you want to focus on Ben, but maybe you're avoiding your future by not fixing your past." With that, Blair walked out of the penthouse, intent on tracking Indra Nuhi, her new-found role model.

At the New-York-Look-At-Me Thorpes party, she overheard snippets of Dan and Serena talking near the stairwell.

"Whatever it is you're planning to do—is it worth it? Or are you going to walk out the door with me right now?" From Blair's corner, Dan looked like he was wound tight and barely letting any emotion show. Blair knew what Serena was going to do though, because Serena with a mission is a force of nature—one her rare moments of tenacity always came when Serena had a new goal or mission to secure.

"I'm sorry." Serena grabbed the mysterious envelopes away Dan and walked away. Even tucked in her corner, Blair could see the sword sliding into Humphrey's gut. 'That man is such a glutton for punishment.' Though she meant the observation to be scornful, part of Blair was softened. Dan would always love Serena, no matter what she did to him. That thought made her a little uncomfortable.

Blair was fuming and ready to leave after the fight with her mother escaladed to fever pitch. She stomped into the coat check area, ready to flee back to the safety of the penthouse when she saw Dan.

"I thought I saw you storm out of here ten minutes ago." Blair sat down next to Dan who was sprawled on the couch in front of coat check. Eleanor Waldorf had just given her a tongue-lashing and Blair felt her heart tumble to her stomach when she saw the look of disappointment in her mother's eyes.

"Well on top of everything else, they can't find my coat." Dan looked up at Blair. She was the opposite of Serena in so many ways. First, Blair Waldorf did not love Dan Humphrey. Second, Blair never seem to lose track of people's hearts the way that Serena lost his, Nate's and innumerable others. At this moment in time, Dan much preferred Blair's solid "Take No Prisoners" stance on everything to Serena's mercurial love.

"So it doesn't take a genius to figure out that your sorry scheme blew up in your face, so you own me teaan." Dan dragged out the number ten with an accent and waved five fingers at Blair, doing a stellar street hustler impression.

"And Serena disappointed you twice today, so you owe me twenty. Coat checker!" Blair was being particularly shrill today.

"What's wrong?" Dan looked her, soft concern in his voice. "It's not the coat."

"I'm sorry, are we friends?" She had a way of bristling whenever she heard the remotest tinge of sympathy. Blair Waldorf never needs sympathy.

"Of course not." He knew that they were, but Blair was no mood to examine anomalies in her world and he knew it. Dan stretched out his arms and withdrew—his defined chest pushed slightly against his plaid shirt. Blair noticed it, but didn't change the expression on her face. She sighed, her shoulder slumping slightly before she turned back to Dan.

"I had a horrible fight with my mother. I tried to be Indra Nuhi, and well, I admit that choice to be a little random, the other choice was to be my mother, and I didn't want that." She was trying to explain herself.

"Why not?" Dan shrugged. Blair glared.

Dan continued in his usual reasonable fashion.

"You care about fashion more than most people care about about, well, anything. You used to send home girls crying from Constance for wearing tights as pants." He remembered that Blair, she was fucking terrifying. In fact, Blair was one of the reasons he never thought of approaching Serena when they were younger. Blair was an insane handmaid, hell-bent on destroying whoever wasn't worthy of Serena.

"Well somebody had to. It was for the greater good, just like my suggestion that you take off that tie and shove it in your pocket. Right now. " In an odd way, Humphrey said that right combination of words that made the shit-tastic day a little more bearable. 'He was right,' Blair thought, 'I can only think of a handful of things that excite me as much as the new spring line.'

"You're an evil dictator of taste, Blair." Dan was still talking. "Why deny that because that's what your mother does? And by the way, this tie was my grandfather's." Dan was mildly annoyed by her, she could see it all over his face. Lately, she was actively trying not to insult Dan's usual poor choice of clothing or profession and she cringed a little bit as she realized she bit down on a jugular when she should have been gentling nipping instead. Especially since Dan was being so nice to her, not out of pity, but because he just liked to talk to her.

Over the holiday break, they saw more than a few movies together, and the two-seat rule was pretty much forgotten. As much as she was loathed to admit it, Dan made her laugh whenever she dwelled too long on her break with Chuck. He was as observant and clever as she was and she never had a problem slicing his argument to bits or vice versa. Dan would expect nothing less of her. After the latest showing of _À bout__ de __soufflé, _she was already ripping Goddard to shreds. She did not like Nouvelle Vague, it was all too pretentious and nostalgic at the same time. Dan shot back that at least Nouvelle Vague tried to do innovate and capture a sense of realism in cinema without documentary tropes. They argued for hours at little shops near the art theaters that always smelled a little too heavily of patchouli to Blair, but these outings were useful—Blair needed to forget Chuck. In her way, Blair was trying to repay Dan for his thoughtfulness and his companionship by giving her much needed fashion advice.

"If only he had been buried in it." Blair gave the most sincere fake smile she could plaster in hopes that Dan would find it ridiculous enough to leave the entire subject behind.

When she got home, she noticed that she heard Dan's voice coming out of Serena's room. 'Good, Serena's finally giving him some closure.' As much as Blair loved Serena, she was beginning to see the wears and tears of Serena's love a little too acutely in Dan. She went into the dining room and sat down next to her mother, Eleanor Waldorf, a still handsome woman. She looked at her mother, really looked, and saw nothing wrong with the glimpse of the future. They exchanged angry words at the party, but now at home, Blair was ready to talk to her mother again.

"I've watched you struggling to find your path and I was hoping it would be mine. But any self respecting daughter of egocentric mother would be repelled by thought of being anything like her." Even though Eleanor knew she had done her fair share of ignoring her child, she had still secretly hoped that Blair would take her success as an indicator that the long hours and neglected moments of childhood was worth it all.

Blair was pained. That wasn't why she didn't want to be like her mother. She was too scared that she would have the same baggage that her mother did, but now in a new light, especially after her talk with Humphrey, Blair was beginning to realize that her mother's path wasn't wrong—in fact, it was probably more than right. "That's not true! You are brilliant. And resilient. And a businesswoman. And an artist. I would be crazy to not be like you."

"Really?" Eleanor was taken aback. It usually took a while for Blair to come around to a new understanding of things. "You are not a, uh, designer? You are a…"

Something triggered in Blair's memory. She knew exactly what she was, "a dictator of taste."

"Exactly! I love that. Who said that?"

"A friend of mine." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Blair knew them to be true. Dan was a true friend, he made her see herself in a new light, without resorting to scheming or insults. His honesty and spot-on observations always made sense to her.

Eleanor retired to her bedroom but Blair was still up. She had a stack of W, Vogue,and V magazine piled on her couch. She was so excited by the idea of becoming a fashion editor that she didn't even bother to change out of her couture. Something was so powerful about the shiny pages of the high fashion editorials, they conveyed so much of a dream, a way of life that was far-fetched for most people, but for Blair, the magic was much more tangible. She was the daughter of Eleanor Waldorf after all. She almost didn't notice the steps that shuffled down the staircase of her penthouse until she saw Dan's silhouette turn in front of her elevator.

"I hope your visits don't become a habit, Humphrey!" She had meant to be cutting, but after this afternoon, her voice came out teasing and relaxed.

"Don't worry, I don't think you'll be seeing much of me for a while." Dan leaned against the marble column in her living room. His neat suit was a little disheveled, the jacket slung over his shoulders, and he looked a little worse for the wear.

"Headed home to Brooklyn?" Blair didn't even bother to ask how the talk with Serena went. Obviously, Humpty was Dumpty.

"No," he looked far away towards the dark recesses of the penthouse to distract himself from the swirling emotions in his gut. "Actually I was thinking about catching _Monsieur Hulot's Holiday_ at the Walter Reed. Trying to cheer myself up."

"Oh. I do enjoy myself some Tati." She saw Dan look at her puzzled. He had assumed that once all of her friends returned to Manhattan that he would again fade to third-tier status. "Although, I suppose if you're trying to improve your mood that my coming with you would defeat that purpose." She quickly retreated.

Dan paused for a second and bit his lip. Blair liked it when Dan bit his lip. "It is pretty funny," Dan grinned at her, "even you couldn't kill that much comedy."

"I still require you to sit two seats away." Blair grinned back at him.

Dan chuckled at her enforcement of the two-seat rule now. "It works for me, keeps your paws off my popcorn." He knew that she couldn't resist the smell of popcorn and would make some excuse later in the night about he got the better seat so she had to sit closer.

"Wait here while I change." She grabbed her long ball gown and excitedly ran up the staircase to her bedroom. A Tati always put her in the best of moods.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-

Please review? More reviews mean a story gets more traffic and if you like what you read, don't you want others to read it too? Let the great Dair ship sail in this world, even if the writers of GG won't.


	5. Damien Darko  Coffee Mate

I do not own rights to Gossip Girl.

Previously in Chapter 4 – Serena leaves Dan at the Thrope party. Blair and Dan decide to go see _Monsieur Hulot's Holiday_. If you want to see all the clothing in this episode, MTV has an awesome break down at: .com/2011/02/01/gossip-girl-season-4-episode-13-damien-darko/

Yikes, I just disabled anonymous commenting since that mean spirited review from New Zealand. Now, I don't know where people get this idea that I'm a professional writer with ethics to uphold. Clearly, I am not, I'm working with the intellectual property of other people. PM me for fact checking. Vitriol is completely unnecessary for this kind of exercise in fantasy. In the words of Mr. Freeze, chill people, chill.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-

"What are you doing up this early?" Blair was applying her favorite La Praire lipstick in Quiet Berry when she saw Serena walk into the bathroom. It was the morning of her internship and Blair was so jittery that she had to take a deep breath to apply her lipstick correct. Her grey Bensoni dress had a galaxy cut, much like the beloved Roland Mouret dress from 2006, but this was a more casual fit. She glanced in the mirror at Serena for her answer.

"Breakfast with Ben." Serena had just gotten the text message and sense of relief swept through her. Ben didn't hate her. Even after the twisted conniving trial he had been put through by Lilly, Ben still wanted to talk. She could see that Blair's face was already in the beginning phases of scolding. "And don't lecture, he's a nice person. A nice innocent person who deserves a friend after what my mom did to him. "

"A lot of mascara for a friend, but you can breakfast with whomever you want." Blair Waldorf was about to say something completely antithetical to her personality. "I don't judge."

Serena had been friends with Blair since they were toddlers. Even then, Blair would quickly eviscerate the hand painting by slower children. She despised the picture that were nothing by primary colors, young Blair pronounced them ugly and spared no feelings within hearing range.

"Well—today, I don't. Because today, everything is new and fresh and golden." Her face took on a particular glow. Blair had scored a real coup with this internship. She had slaved away for weeks, milking every contact and every available means of accessing her new boss. She was almost arrested for trespassing, but all was fair the game of high powered fashion. "Today my new internship begins."

"You're finally going to tell me where it is?" Serena had noticed that Blair was rarely ever around the penthouse. Instead, Blair was MIA while Dorota seemed to be frantically running a miniature paper-mill of resumes and cover letters.

"It's TOO important! I can't jinx it. I'll tell you after my first day." Satisfied with the volume in her chestnut hair, Blair said, "But I must go."

"You realize that most offices aren't even open this early." Serena didn't understand why Blair was keeping the whole internship thing such a big secret. She was Blair's best friend, it wasn't like Serena was going to steal the internship away from Blair just by prior knowledge. She did her best private-eye voice. "Unless—you're interning at a doughnut shop?"

"I want to be early! What is wrong with being early?" Blair shot back a little too defensively. "Catch the worm!"

As with most things that concerned Blair, Serena just shrugged off Blair's early-riser weirdness to stress. "I'll see you at the W party tonight. And good luck at your new job at the mayor's office, at the Whitney, or at the CIA or whatever." Serena called out to Blair's departing back and sighed, "this is like living with Don Draper."

During the same early morning rush, Dan was finishing a call to Lilly van der Woodsen, Serena's mother and his stepmother. Lilly had really come through for him in a pinch. Because of all the internship interviews that he missed waiting to talk with Serena, Dan wasn't left with a whole lot of options. Lilly made a few calls to Condé Nast, and Condé Nast did not say no to billionaires very often. Dan was actually turning down a celebratory breakfast with Lilly and his father because he was rushing from Brooklyn to Midtown—trying to catch the few minutes that he and Blair planned for their morning coffee commute.

"I can't, I'm super busy, I gotta limber up for all this boot-licking I'm going to be doing." Dan felt a little guilty that he was saying no to the woman who had gotten him the job, but he also knew how Blair would react if he stood her up on their coffee route. When he saw her round the corner with two cups of coffee, he was relieved that he wasn't late. She looked adorable, in a fuzzy cream boucle coat and lacy tights that accentuated her slender legs—the epitome of a Park Avenue princess.

Before he could even get to the first sip of his drink, he had to defend his latest artsy-movie discovery, "you gotta be kidding me, _Scorpio Rising_ was a great film."

"That dreck? Puts the "ic" in esoteric." Blair shot back. Dan could see why Blair was put off by experimental movies. She liked a well polished final product, and the Kenneth Anger movie was anything but finished. Dan paused thoughtfully for a moment. Blair actually had a point here, he was prone to like movies that were far from the mainstream—this particular movie was a Vanessa recommendation, so that might have something to do with it too. Maybe bikers, Jesus, and Nazis weren't the most sophisticated of metaphors.

Still, Dan didn't like movies that were all frills and bourgeois angst. It wasn't his duty to get Blair out of her comfort zone, but he like teasing her. "Fine, we can go see the Merchant Ivory retrospective to ensure that your delicate sensibilities are not disturbed," Dan rolled his eyes, "and I can catch up on my sleep."

"Going to movies, is a one—or four time thing. It's not like we're friends." Blair didn't know why she kept trying to reinforce that boundary with Humphrey. Sure, she liked his companionship when the city seemed lonely and empty, but now that her life was swiftly kicking into high gear, she didn't want to rely on him. There were closer men to her heart, like the inestimable Chuck Bass. As much as she had worked on getting over him during the holidays, now that he was back in town, the geographic proximity made her anticipate and scheme for a new date of reconciliation. There was no one like Chuck, and as much as she denied herself, she still felt linked to him now that they were on the same island again.

"I never suggested we were, but I am going to see the Joseph Beuys exhibit in Chelsea." Dan ignored her terminology and shifted focus.

"Oh, you are such a Beuy. How could you go to that—when the Degas is about to close at the Morgan?" She sometimes thought that Dan liked art that was too conceptual. All the talk about modes of alienation and social theory left her cold. Blair unknowingly fell for the bait, all thoughts of what her friendship with Humphrey meant went out the window.

"And you're such a girl." Dan barely suppressed himself from using his art school confidential tone. "I'm going to take a pass on the ballerina. Frilly dresses and tutus is not my idea of art."

Blair recoiled instantly; it was so like a Humphrey to not understand fashion. Maybe the gene skipped Jenny Humphrey—but her fashion sense was still not as finely tuned as Blair's. "Fashion is the most powerful art there is! It's movement, design, and architecture all in one. It shows the world who we are and who we'd like to be—just like your scarf suggests that you'd like to sell used cars." Blair hated it when men discarded fashion just because a "women's world." Fashion was history, revolution, and class warfare all wrapped together; before she could launch into anecdote about the sans-culottes, Dan interrupted her.

"Vanessa gave me this scarf."

Blair sniffed, 'No surprise there. '

"I have to go. Stop wasting my time! You know today is a big day for me." Dan quirked an eyebrow at her. She had been so mysterious about her internship for weeks now, only alluding how she was excited and frantic at the same time.

"So you're finally going to tell me what internship you got?" He took a sip of his coffee to catch her eyes gleaming—but she was still silent. "Fine, then I won't say which one I got either. I will see you Sunday at the Morgan, I will wear my most fashionable toe shoes." Dan didn't want to admit that Blair changed his mind about seeing the ballerinas.

"Don't get your hopes up." She smirked as she hailed a cab. Dan returned her look. She was going to be at the Degas closing, no matter what she was saying now.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-

Please review? More reviews mean a story gets more traffic and if you like what you read, don't you want others to read it too? Let the great Dair ship sail in this world, even if the writers of GG won't.


	6. In the Closet

I do not own rights to Gossip Girl.

Previously in Chapter 5 – Dan and Blair run out early to meet each other for coffee. Blair does not tell Dan what internship she managed to land. All of Blair's outfits are here: .com/2011/02/01/gossip-girl-season-4-episode-13-damien-darko/

Much thanks to the dairshipper channel on Youtube that is allowing me to transcribe the script!

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-

When Blair stepped into 750 3rd Ave, she could almost feel the heavy presence of Anna Wintour nearby, even if Vogue magazine still a few blocks away. The activity in the office was a whirlwind of sharply dressed women and men, hustling under a deadline, scurrying with copies of proofs and mockups as if they were handling organ transplants. The air was electric and Blair loved the hum of the well-oiled machine that was W magazine. Her intern supervisor, Epperly Lawrence, was just beginning the tour of the office, Blair trotted after her—Epperly was so much taller and her legs were longer.

"Down there is the main production area," Epperly gestured, "thru those door, Editor in Chief Stefano Tonchi."

"And when can I get a sit down with him? I have exciting new ideas that I've organized in a power point presentation." The eager beaver in Blair was just bursting with excitement. She knew that getting a few minutes with Mr. Tonchi could make or break her opportunities at W.

Epperly smiled wryly at Blair. "I've been Stefanos' assistant ever since he took over and I barely have five minutes."

"But my research says that he has an open door policy, that he's collaborative," Blair hated it when her research didn't pay off.

"Doesn't mean that he isn't crazy busy." Epperly glanced at this new intern and decided that she was already going to be a problem.

"Sounds like he needs my help, immediately." A hopeful smile appeared on Blair's face—maybe this was her in!

"Ah, you're all so young, and so adorable." Epperly was pushing her into room full of girls that looked like carbon copies of UES clones. Interesting necklace pieces? Check. Perfect blow outs? At 9 am? Check. Malicious looks of sabotage? Double check.

"All? Who?" Blair glared at her competition. Her plans to run off these cheap knockoff versions of herself were already in place.

"All of you interns. Thousands of applications, these are the best of the best." Epperly smiled broad at the interns around the conference table.

"But I'm the best of the best. I'm Blair Waldorf!" Sometimes, Blair just couldn't control the stream of conscious superiority that she had acquired over the years.

"Assuming that's your way of saying that you're the most distinguished, ambitious student at your school, then they're all Blair Waldorfs." Epperly easily breezed past Blair's outburst, she had clearly been handling entitled interns for a while now. "Princeton, Yale, Penn, and Parsons."

Blair was still trying to process that she now had five rivals in serious competition with her when she spotted a familiar mop of curly hair. His eyes widened as soon as he spotted Blair. Oh shit.

"This must be our sixth and final intern!" Everyone turned to look at the doorway.

"There must be some mistake," Dan stammered.

"Dan Humphrey, NYU? I'm Epperly Lawrence, your intern advisor."

Blair was furious. How in the world did a Humphrey get into the rarefied world of high fashion ? Her day began so well when she was dreaming about it this morning in the bathroom—she would sweep into the office, dazzle Stefano with her steadily accumulated knowledge of fashion and her perspective honed from years in the fashion's most competitive atmosphere, New York City. Instead, Humphrey was standing next to her now, in his grandpa cardigan, and worrying the lower half of his full lower lip because he had no idea that Mercedez Benz sponsored a fashion week. She wanted to take the broadsheet sized W, roll it up, and snap it against the side of his head. He didn't belong there!

"Get out of here Humphrey, this is my world." She tried to lower her voice so that Epperly wouldn't hear the ice in her tone.

"I can't just quit." He wasn't taken aback by her tone. Dan was as surprised as Blair was when he walked into the W intern room. "When Lilly said Condé Nast, I assumed she meant the New Yorker or Vanity Fair but it doesn't mean she didn't pull every string to on my behalf."

He was grateful for the opportunity, but he was regretting it slightly now. Ever since Constance, he had been wary of being in the path of something Blair Waldorf wanted and now he was like a deer caught in her head lights. He sucked in his cheeks slightly as he thought—no, he couldn't give up just because Blair was there, ready to trample him. He had to do it because he needed to prove Blair wrong, he was capable of writing again, and he had a great idea for an article that was fomenting, but he needed connections of the published world. He could submit it to a junior editor somewhere in the building if he was lucky. He shrugged. "It's easier to get a guy paroled than just to get a magazine internship in this town."

"You don't know the difference between Rodarte and roadkill! You'll be guillotined." Blair's frosty gaze chilled him to the bone. Yeesh, the Blair glare was in full effect, but he was going to stand his ground.

"We're interns. I might not know couture, but I know how to collate." Dan had a point here.

"And I know how to staple so stay out of my way." She spat out, "or I'll staple your hand to your shoulder blade." What did Blair really have to worry about? Dan would reveal himself to be lesser candidate soon enough—all she had to do was sabotage all the other interns and Dan's failures would clearly come to light in due time.

"Blair?"

"I'm sorry." She looked slightly apologetic, but took the moment to weaken her opponent. "Dan was just here telling me how much he'd love to work for the New Yorker."

"Oh that's right! You're the writer." Oh no, Epperly's words were not what Blair was expecting. When Epperly kept talking, Blair's worst fears were confirmed. "Maybe you can do something for our new blog that we're announcing tonight at the party: books, movies, fashion on film. This month will be a celebration of contemporary authors and Lynn Hirshberg is writing the intro. I'll be sure to introduce you." Shit, shit, Blair thought as she set her jaw. This was the one area that Humphrey could distinguish himself—he was a writer and she was not.

When Blair spotted Dan in the accessories closet, his eyes glazed over at the selection of strappy sandals in front of him, she strolled into his field of vision and picked up a pair of suede sandals.

"These strappy Zanotti's would look great with your sweaty gym socks." She held the shoe in front of his face and smiled.

"Epperly asked me to pull the lemon Louboutins." Blair could hear the uncertainty in Dan's voice.

"Oh. You poor lost lamb." Blair's eyes gleamed, what a perfect opportunity to whip Humphrey hide! "Let me help you." She walked her fingers around a pair of Marc Jacobs and held them to him like a prize fish.

Dan paused for a second and then said, "I didn't date Serena van der Woodsen and come away not knowing that those are Marc Jacobs, and they're mustard."

Blair was shocked, did Dan actually pay attention when his ex girlfriend and she were shopping? Stupid writer powers of observation. Ugh, she so regretted giving him the necessary preparations that wasn't allowing her to sabotage his internship. Meanwhile, her steady campaign to ruin all the other girls in the office was going swimmingly. She thought smugly of the Chanel No.5 she had just dropped into the mousy girl's coffee as the girl was on her way to deliver the coffee to Epperly. Of course, five minutes later, Epperly was spitting out the offending beverage.

Before she could make the mad dash for fresh coffee, Blair heard Dan's voice.

"Hey, I was just getting m self a cappuccino and I thought you might like one."

Where had he come from?

"Nutmeg foam? That's a Humphrey touch, my dad used to own a coffee bar." What the what? That Williamsburg weasel! Blair was now restrategizing. Dan was clearly a bigger threat than she had anticipated before.

"Thank you Daniel, that's very thoughtful." Epperly already look extremely appreciative—too appreciative in Blair's mind.

Epperly had really put her on the worst job of the day. After a wrestling match with Humphrey over the stapler, Blair was stuffing gift bags for the W party later tonight with Dan. On the one hand, Blair was angry that Dan was proving to be worthy competition, on the other—she wanted to keep her enemies closer.

"So, how are you enjoying your first day?" Dan was smirking at her.

Blair was not amused. "Well, what should have been perfection," she paused to give him another baleful look, "has now been tainted by a run in with Brooklyn's Benedict Arnold."

"How am I a traitor?" He was only slightly amused now. "The only reason you're still here is because no one ratted out your attempts at sabotage to Epperly."

"And the only reason you're still here is that no one has asked you who's Givenchy."

Suddenly, they both heard scraps of conversation in the hallway. Epperly was definitely having a breakdown.

"Hirshberg's out." Dan mused.

"Major disaster."

"Unless, someone shows up with a new author and saves the day." Blair was surprised that Dan thought of the idea before she did.

"Yes, and when she does, she will shine as the best intern." Her machinations were just kicking into high gear and she shot daggers at Dan. "And her insipid competition will be fired."

"You do know that I know Jeremiah Harris, personally. Right?" Dan had an uncharacteristically cocky grin on his face—almost as if he enjoyed goading her.

"You do know that I know everyone personally. Right?" Blair imitated Dan's tone and gave him a withering look.

"Ok, so then we both show up with our authors tonight at the party and whoever Epperly decides has the best fit for W wins." He made a cutting motion with his hand. "The other resigns. "

"I can agree to that." Her eyes shifted for a second.

Dan caught the look and reconsidered the parameters of this new agreement. "It's gotta be a clean fight. Do you understand that? As a concept? No sabotage?"

"I can't wait to see you bleeding on the racks, but yes, no sabotage."

She reached out her hand to shake and noticed that his hand was warm and vital. Blair quickly withdrew her hand—she didn't need any distractions right now.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-

Please review? More reviews mean a story gets more traffic and if you like what you read, don't you want others to read it too? Let the great Dair ship sail in this world, even if the writers of GG won't.


	7. Question for the Audience

Questions

I don't know if this a kosher way to ask this, but this is the easiest thing I can think of. So, obvious after Empire of the Son, I was pretty inspired to write a lot around this episode. Since I don't know how to do a poll, can my subscribers give me some input via the comments? Would you rather read chapter around Empire of the Son now (which I've written like 90% of) or would you rather wait for the episode exposition in between (i.e. covering Valentine's day, their fight at W, and that d'aw moment on the couch?)?

Give me the Kiss RIGHT NOW

I'll wait. I've been waiting for four years anyways.


	8. Prisoner's Dilemma

All right, the majority of commenter have convinced me to stick with chronology. I just finished up the Kiss Scene in Empire of the Son and boy is it a doozee. I hope you guys like waiting!

Previously in Chapter 6 – Blair discovered that Dan also works at W. Fireworks and words are exchanged.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-

Dan was pleased. He had just scored a little coup with Jeremiah Harris, who was his mentor/famous writer buddy. Although Jeremiah Harris wasn't the kind of mentor who taught the Platonic discourses, Jeremiah loved to belly up to an open bar, especially one sponsored by a magazine like W. Mr. Harris liked bright young things at a party like this.

"I did a little Humphrey smooth talking and Jeremiah Harris said that he'd be delighted to come. " Dan said airily. He knew that Blair was going to furious that he landed Jeremiah. "So I'm just going to add his name to the list real quick." Dan had deliberately chosen the computer in front of Blair so that he could watch her glower at him.

"Oh, well you can put him under Lorrie Moore, my author, he'll be most comfortable there." She wasn't going to be outshone by a Humphrey. The thought was incomprehensible.

"I don't think so," Dan focused on the computer screen before turning back to her tense face. "Before Jeremiah Harris wrote novels, he wrote film reviews for Vanity Fair and he had a wine column in Bon Appetite." He smiled at her. "Stefano also knows him from the Times."

"So?" She was a little more than annoyed now. "Lorrie Moore was a 2010 Finalist for the Pen/Faulkner award."

"True. Maybe she is a better get." He grinned at her again before landing the final blow. "Oh, but did I mention that Jeremiah is also on the board of admission at Williams where Stefano's niece is applying to college?"

She opened her mouth to say something but found that sharp words had died in her mouth. Before she could find a rebuttal, Dan gave her a triumphant look and made his dramatic exit. 'Oh buddy,' Blair thought, 'buckle up because this is going to be a bumpy night.'

"Speaking of fights, I'm at full on war with Humphrey." Blair had just made it downstairs and was dragging a cartful of magazines to the W van.

"B, I know you like to turn everything into a contest, but surely Dan isn't your biggest competition at W."

"All the other girls are variations on a theme, and that theme is slightly lesser version of me." Blair stopped for a moment to make her point. "But, Dan is a writer, and he makes delicious coffee and never mind that he's not a completely horrible looking straight guy," she thought about what she was saying. Dan was a little more than "not-completely-horrible" looking, but she didn't feel like clarifying the issue to herself. "—Working at a fashion magazine He's got the whole office buzzing."

"Sounds like someone's feeling a little threatened." Serena was a little surprised. It seems lately that her best friend had taken a shine to her ex—something she never expected to happen. She still remembered Blair's comment about how some men "stay good" in regards to Dan and wondered what had changed about the dynamic between the former Queen B and her most hated Brooklynite.

"Not for long. My author will make his author look like a monkey with a type writer." Blair tapped her hand across her chin, "or maybe an invisible monkey with a type writer."

"B, I can hear scheming in your voice. You cannot sabotage him."

"I'm not going to treat him better than all my other enemies just because you sporadically love him." Blair threw up her hands. Now that Dan threatened her position, he was fair game. Enemies had to be weakened and Blair always knew the tenderest parts to kick.

"He's not your enemy. Earn the spot light on your own merits, you'll feel better."

"I'll call you later." Blair was annoyed. On some level, what Serena was saying actually made sense. Now if only her best friend were so reasonable about the convicted felon in her heart. "Let Ben go?"

"Let Dan be."

Blair was hanging up her phone when she felt a gentle thud of a paper bag.

"Oh picking up a late lunch for Epperly?" She could smell the sandwich that Dan was holding out to her. Was it her favorite gruyere, arugula, prosciutto Panini? She was so hungry. There was almost no time during the internship for her to step outside the virtual fences of Condé Nast. She half-way considered kicking Dan in the shin and running off with the sandwich—a repeat performance of the stapler incident—she would effectively sabotage Dan's attempt to brownnose Epperly and she wouldn't feel faint anymore.

"No, it's actually for you." In addition to outdoing Blair at all of her internship tasks, he also noticed that it was the late afternoon and she barely had time to drink water, let alone consume a meal. He saw her surprised look. "Don't worry, it isn't poisoned I wouldn't want to win due to my rival's starvation." Blair was looking at his face with grave uncertainty. He almost chuckled at her paranoia. "And I figured you were too much of a food snob to deign to eat at the commissary." Dan's phone immediately went off with two beeps. "And Epperly needs me to alphabetize." He smiled a little at her confusion and stepped away. "Duty calls."

Blair watched Dan's departing back and gripped onto the sandwich tightly. She was holding the guest list for the W party tonight in her other hand. Her eyes immediately scanned down to one Jeremiah Harris with full phone contact. Maybe Serena was right. She didn't need to cut out Dan's Achilles tendon just to get ahead. Surely, her author, Lorrie Moore, was just as good of a fit for the magazine as Jeremiah. She would let Epperly make that decision. With an uncharacteristic spirit of charity, Blair decided not to sabotage and threw away the list in the trash. She was a little shocked at herself.

An hour ticked by at the W party, Dan was checking his cell phone once every two minutes now, and Jeremiah Harris was nowhere to be found. As the minutes ticked by, he was equal parts triumphant that he had preemptively struck against Blair and disappointed that she had reverted back to her old ways again. But now, he had no ground to stand on because he did the very thing that he knew Blair Waldorf would do to stay ahead. He knew that he couldn't trust Blair, not as far as he could throw her, and now the missing Jeremiah just proved that his paranoia was well founded. Their prisoner's dilemma would only work if they both sabotaged each other. He decided to find Blair.

"Lorrie is a bit late, but she'll be here any minute." He found her nervously flicking through her Blackberry. She looked at him, resigned, "well, I hope Jeremiah bought his A game."

"He's not here yet." Dan was looking for any signs of guilt on Blair's face. "Any reason you think he might be late?"

"The guy is a famous recluse. He might not show up at all." Blair was already stressed that Lorie Moore had somehow stopped answering all of her emails and voicemails. And now Dan was moaning about his author? She just hoped that this disaster didn't send Epperly over the top. "It's your fault for picking him."

"Oh my fault? You've gotta be kidding me." Dan couldn't believe it. She just admitted, not entirely outright, that she had somehow stopped Jeremiah from coming to the party. "We said, no sabotage."

"What are you talking about?" She frowned.

As Jeremiah Harris rounded the corner, he clapped Dan on the back. The realization that Dan had just sabotaged her when she had decided that their friendship might be worth something just hit her like a ton of bricks. Dan looked back at her, shocked that she hadn't betrayed him after all. This was Blair Waldorf. How he didn't have a Louboutin heel in his back was astonishing. As Jeremiah was leading him away to the bar, Dan started to feel a cold knot of guilt.

"OMG." Blair shot a death glare at a passing cater waiter. "I was just poke axed by a poor person." Blair thought about waiting to confront of Humphrey over this latest indignation, but a white hot fury swept through her. She kicked herself mentally. How could she trust someone from Brooklyn? They were probably all raised by three-card-monty hustler on their way to the top of the social ladder, and it was precisely what Humphrey was doing. Using Lilly's connections to secure himself a high-falutin internship and then being so devious about bumping her out of the competition. She was gripping her blackberry so hard that she thought it might crack. When she spotted him at the other side of the party, Blair stalked over.

"You Williamsburg weasel! I can't believe you stabbed me in the back!"

"I only did it because I thought you did the same to me." To Dan's credit, he did looked incredibly pained when she started _J'acussing _him like he was part of the Dreyfus affair.

"Hillary Clinton is one of my role models!" She was furious now. Not only did Humphrey admit to being the turncoat, he did it because he thought her incapable of honor. When she thought of how accurate she was when she called him a Benedict Arnold, she was even angrier that she had been right all along. "I do not break treaties, you ass!" Her eyes were blazing now. "But, I do secure borders, so I'm going to go tell Epperly what you did right now."

"No, look, Blair, wait, we can figure something out." He gripped her elbow with both of her arms and let himself be dragged as she spotted Epperly

"Let go of me you classless cling on!"

At this moment, she thought of nothing more satisfying than slapping Dan's face. Her hand shot out and pushed his head back. He was still holding on her elbow when they both lost balance. Blair landed on top of Dan and if she wasn't struggling to smack his face again, she would have noticed how gently he was holding her so that he would break her fall. She was busy trying to suffocate her worst enemy when she saw a flash of Italian couture that could only be Stefano Tonchi.

For a second, the two enemies stopped struggling and Blair landed next to Dan. From her most undignified vantage point, she saw Stefano Tonchi step over their supine bodies. They were both beyond embarrassed and Blair knew that this was partially her fault. She had over reacted again.

Now that she had nothing left to lose, Blair couldn't help one final slap at her former friend.

Epperly fired both of them within second of seeing Stefano Tonchi stepping over their ridiculous slapping fight on the floor. Dan looked over at Blair guilty. He did feel terrible. As it turns out, Blair Waldorf was his friend. She didn't sabotage him even though she had the chance, and now he had plunged a knife deep into her back just as they were beginning to understand each other. She was silent on their way over to the W. offices to pick up their things. She had a firm set to her jaw and her eyes only locked on him when she looked like she had murderous intentions.

"Come on, it was just an internship, I'm sure you can have your mother call and get you a new one in a second." Blair was an upper east sider. Dan was sure that her fashion designer mother could use her solid connections for another job.

"My mother didn't get me W." Blair still wasn't looking at him. She began shoveling papers into her purse. "She's a designer, she can't call in favors from a fashion magazine."

"Well, you don't get jobs like this without a connection." He was puzzled now. The only way he could get within 10 foot of an internship was through Lilly. How did Blair manage this without family connections?

"Well _I_ did. I practically stalked Stefano. Spent the night in his lobby waiting to meet him. And after the police escorted me out for the third time, I faxed a letter to every machine in the building." She hadn't told anyone, except Dorota, about how badly she wanted the internship. Her secrecy was the only way she had to make sure that no one knew if her efforts failed. She was so proud of herself when the internship offer came in. She, Blair Waldorf, had secured an insanely difficult internship without the benefits of being Eleanor Waldorf's daughter. She was proving to her mother that she could rise in the fashion world on her own.

"That's like 200 fax machines."  
"Three hundred thirty two." Blair was more than familiar with the number of fax numbers she punched last week.

Dan's eyes widened. He really fucked up. He thought that the internship was just another power move Blair made and he thought that he was just trying stay one step ahead of her game so that he wouldn't get pushed out. He had no idea that this job was her dream and he had single-handedly destroyed that dream. "Wow, Blair, I'm so sorry. I didn't know any of this."

"What, the fact that you were willfully ignorant is supposed to make me feel better? You wanted an internship." She was barely keeping her livid tone in check. Blair gestured around the internship closet sadly. "I wanted _this_ one."

He frowned. "So why didn't you just sabotage me? You had every opportunity."  
Blair looked wounded for a second. "I guess I must have some undiagnosed brain injury because I stupidly thought that this fake friendship might be real."

Dan looked at her agape—did she actually say that their friendship was real? The guilt that he felt when he figured out Blair hadn't stopped Jeremiah was now ten folds stronger. He had to fix it. Because Blair said that they were friends and he knew that they were. Dan Humphrey was not the kind of person that stepped on people on his way to the top. He had to make things right. He called Epperly right away.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-

Please review? More reviews mean a story gets more traffic and if you like what you read, don't you want others to read it too? Let the great Dair ship sail in this world, even if the writers of GG won't.


	9. I'll Never Let You Down

Previously in Chapter 7 – Dan sabotages Blair's Internship.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-

After Ben was falsely framed by Damien, Dan began to see, maybe Ben had a good side. Their forced living conditions weren't really allowing friendship to grow naturally. That and Ben was currently seeing the ex-love-of-his-life, Serena van der Woodsen. Dan was beginning to appreciate careless do-gooder side of Serena, and his appreciation wasn't all positive.

There was someone who was growing in his esteem and that someone was Blair Waldorf. He shook his head, in the past four weeks, he couldn't believe the range he had seen in Blair. She was ambitious and terrifying to be sure, but her tenacity was to be admired, not feared. Her determination impressed him every single time he thought about how she faxed 300 machines to get her internship. Even her little moments of sabotage were all part of the package, part of her ferreting out the weakness of her opponents. She was a good game fighter and she fought fair, which Dan had not expected.

After he unintentionallyruined her internship and gotten them both fired, he backtracked quickly to Epperly and placed the blame squarely on himself, where it belonged anyways. He knew she had landed back at W and although they weren't on speaking terms right now (he being the Brooklyn Benedict Arnold), he was hoping that she would never look at him again with such an expression of regret and injury. That night when she proclaimed that she thought their "fake friendship was real," he actually felt his spine stiffen. He didn't intend to hurt her at all, but that is precisely what he had done by not trusting her.

He walked into the W office, fully intending to hand his article to Epperly, who at least promised him an editor contact before his internship was up, and instead, he saw Blair sitting where Epperly should have been. He wasn't quite sure what to do.

"Waldorf." He attempted a neutral tone. "Where the new Epperly?"

"You're lookin' at her." Blair sat back in her chair and gestured to the tiny cubicle proudly.

"Oh god, what did you do to her?" His tone implied that Blair had Epperly's body stuffed somewhere in a fashion closet.

"She's in a better place." Blair paused for the intended effect. "She's in Bali doing downward dog with some British wally named Pratt. Or pratt named Wally." She smiled at her good fortune. "In any case, she quit."

"That's great." His mouth twisted up in a smirk. "My only contact at Condé Nast has been replaced by a staple stealer."

It was so like Humphrey to pick on her last nerve. "I will staple whatever's in your sweaty hand to your jeans if you don't leave this instant!"

"What's in my hand is an article. Epperly said that she would get it to Details? I assume you can't do the same?" He looked around the flurry of interns and knew he was pushing his luck. "I did, kinda, get this job for you."

"Only after you got me fired. How many times must I repeat myself? We are not friends." Blair didn't know why she was being so bitchy this morning. Maybe because at the morning meeting, Stefano commented that her work wasn't on par with Epperly's. Or maybe it was the ten espresso shot red-eye drink she downed right before Humphrey walked in. "Just because we went to see a movie—or five—does does not mean that I will go out on a limb for you."

Dan winced. Ok, she was still mad. And she had the right to be. But he really needed a published article now that his internship was kaput. "Ok, how about I just drop it here." He slid the folder into her inbox.

Blair glared back up at him, another folder in the growing pile of work in her inbox. Did he know what he was asking of her? She rose from her seat and grabbed a huge pile of To-Dos and dumped it on top of his article.

She snarled at him. "As you can see, I don't have time to read faux-ticles, by wannabe writers."

"Blair? Please." Dan knew he had gone about it all wrong. Blair was on edge this morning and he was only aggravating her, but maybe he could appeal to her sense of humor? "I'll apply to another internship and get back in the ring with you. You remember our little wrestling match?" The corners of his mouth lifted up at the memory. Even though he knew it was wrong, he really enjoyed that physical confrontation with Blair—she was freakishly strong for a tiny girl—but it was all so exciting for him. No one ever got passionate enough with him to face palm him into the floor. And passion was something that Blair had in spades, but unfortunately, today, her passion was replaced by fury.

"How about you apply yourself to a job that's more within your breeding." She snapped. "Isn't there a bat mitzvah girl in need of a Shirley Temple?"

"Actually, I gave my cater waiter contact to Ben. He's doing Martha Stewart's Valentine's day party." He barely let the insult ding him. Blair's phone suddenly beeped—it was Reina on the other line, turning down the opportunity to do a social piece for Blair's newest assignment. As she hung up the phone, Humphrey noted how her shoulders hung whenever something disappointed her. He was going to make sure that he never put her in that posture. But opportunity presented itself.

"Guess you have time to read my article now." He smiled tenderly at her.

Dan wasn't off the hook yet. Even if she appreciated his good humor, she still gave him a withering look and stalked back to her desk.

After he left Eric and the schnitzel truck, he thought about his own advice. Make the gesture. He wanted to spend Valentine's day with Blair, but not romantically. He only wanted to see her to make sure that she had read his article, which at first blush, might have been about Serena, but was really about the difficulties of moving on when the ex was so close. He thought Blair might sympathize with the article—seeing as her ex, Chuck Bass, never seemed to be far out of orbit. Speaking of the Devil, Dan thought, he would have to find some way to attend Chuck's outlandishly expensive party. Maybe Lilly would have tickets? He quickly dialed Lilly's number.

With the tickets secured in his jacket pocket, Dan was thankful that Lilly had insisted on buying him some Hugo Boss suits last season. He thought flannel was acceptable for most occasions, but this was clearly not the time or place to argue about fashion. As far as Chuck Bass parties go, Dan didn't really notice any discernable differences from the ones Serena was forever inviting him to. Only this time, Dan had invited himself, and he wasn't here to see Serena. He had Waldorf in his sightline; she was trailed by what looked like a camera crew. He shook his head, Blair was always up to something.

"Humphrey, what are you doing here?" She demanded as soon as she picked out his curly hair and a surprisingly nice suit that even she couldn't disparage.

"Stalking you, actually." His smile crooked up at one side of his mouth. "You didn't by any chance read my article?" He withdrew his hands from his jacket pocket and looked at her hopefully.

"I didn't need to, I know what it's all about." She waved dismissively. "A boy from Brooklyn and an untouchable upper east side blonde." Blair pressed her lips together into a thin line. She was lying, she had read the article and was struck by the realism and the insight that seemed to be touch the same wounds that Chuck had carved into her heart. Right now though, the article only brought her worst enemy/best friend into the forefront, and Blair wanted nothing more than to humiliate Serena in what she was sure was a bizarre plot to sabotage her career at W.

"Well, as a matter o fact-," Dan rocked back on his heels and put his hands back in his pocket. He could feel his chance slipping away.

Her eyes scanned the room. "I work at W now. I'm an arbiter of taste. If I were to stand behind some lame Humphrey lamentation—" She really didn't want to discuss events of her recent heartaches, it was too close to home. "It would be like showing up at an accessories shoot, in crocs."

"How do you know it's lame?" He extended his palms pleadingly. "You haven't read it. Maybe I've matured as writer and maybe you've matured as a person. And you can help someone who really needs just because it's the right thing to do." Dan knew that appealing to Blair's sense of altruism wasn't the best card he could play, but it was the only one he had. She hadn't heard a word he was saying because her eyes were already blazing holes into whoever it was standing behind him. Heaven help whoever was Blair's moving target.

With a slight push, Blair stepped around him. "If you'll excuse me, I have a Valentine's day vendetta to exact." Dan caught his breath a little as he look at her departing figure. Her silver dress clung to her slender frame, but it was the back that was breathtaking—the dress was cut low and exposed everything from her neck to her last vertebrate. Her back was polished and reminded him of a Man Ray photograph—where a woman had the F-holes of a violin carved into her back.

That went well, he thought. He would just have to continue to circulate the party until another opportunity with Blair arose. He decided to wander around the hotel—it was a grand, ostentatious piece of property. Maybe he could write an Edith Wharton-esque piece about the gilded people here tonight. He rounded the banister of the second story staircase and saw Blair's ex showing an extraordinary looking hotel room to Reina. Chuck didn't look like he was making any power plays for Reina—in fact, he looked completely smitten. She was a beautiful girl to be sure, but now she had the expression of someone slowly falling for Chuck. Dan felt a slight pang for Blair, it looked like Chuck had moved on.

Blair would find out, somehow about all of this. Chuck and Reina's grand romance was taking place only steps away from where the party was—all it would take is some bad timing for this revelation to crush Blair. He quickly went down the staircase to find her, she shouldn't be alone when she finds out that her Basstard had given his heart willingly to someone else. On his way to the bar, he heard scraps of Serena and Blair's argument. Blair was huffily defending Chuck's eternal love for her; she was sure that Reina was a scheme. By now, Dan knew better. He watched her angrily stomp towards the upstairs suite to find Chuck and he trailed after her.

Blair took a breath when she stepped into the suite. She had never seen anything like it before—even though it wasn't her style (French country a la Marie Antoinette was more like her), she recognized that the opulent bedroom had a specific purpose. She heard soft footsteps behind her.

"Blair…" Dan's voice was so soft, as if he was afraid of breaking something.

"I'm looking for Chuck. What is this place?" Her tone was uncertain. She did not know if she would like the answer.

"Ah. He—uh—built it for Reina." Dan fumbled for his words.

"He's pretty serious about this game." She frowned.

"I don't," before Dan could finish, they both heard two voices rapidly approaching.

"Shhh." Blair grabbed his arm and lead him through a doorway into an empty room. It looked like the suite had been built recently, and this empty room was still in its unfinished state. Scraps of wallpaper hung off walls and the air was still musty with age. Dan stood in front of the smoky glass that concealed them both and Blair leaned in on him. She swallowed hard a few times.

Reina was furious. She had just see Chuck betray his step-mother, Lilly, effectively ousting her from Bass Industries. Chuck was scrambling for footing; he rapidly ran down the list of reasons-why-Chuck-Bass-is-fucked-up, a sure fire way to bring women to empathy, but Reina was having none of it. She saw straight through him and she had no wish to become part of his damage. When Chuck finally whispered to Reina, "You are sacred to me," Dan felt Blair, who had been leaning on him during this exchange, shrink back.

"Wow, he is good." Dan muttered.

"Shut up Humphrey." Blair said without vehemence.

In this moment, she could not feel more nauseous. What was supposed to be a move for Chuck Bass to regain his family company had turned into something else. She thought of how she had helped Chuck to gain the woman that he now said he loved. She knew the tone in Chuck's voice. She had heard it before when he was about to propose, she had heard it when he said "I love you" for the first time. And now that tone was directed at someone new.

She tried to steady herself and turned towards the antique couch in the corner of the abandoned room. She felt like the room. In despair and forgotten, while through those doors, the freshly renovated suite was Reina. Shiny and new. Would Chuck ever remember that he had the abandoned room adjacent to his Reina suite? Blair looked down at the floor and crossed her legs; she folded her hands into her lap, shrinking herself to the smallest, most defensible posture.

Dan gripped the curtain uncertainly. He felt hesitant; he had never seen her so wounded—save for their hallway conversation. She was imperceptible trembling with emotion, and he wanted to soothe, to buffer the pain. He wanted to steady her. As he sat next to her on the loveseat, he reached out and wrapped his hand around her small fingers.

She looked at his hand for a second felt the calm and honesty in his touch. Of all the people in the world, why was Dan here with her now? He would never understand what it felt like to be betrayed, over and over again. Actually, maybe Dan was the only person in the world that would understand how she felt. She thought about his article, how exactly he had pinpointed the sharp twists of emotions with a past love. Serena must have done this to him so many times. Serena, with her endless supply of love, forever slipping past Dan to the next receptacle. Dan would understand. His hands though, felt foreign to her. The comfort and strength coming through his gesture confused her. She quickly withdrew. She couldn't handle all this right now, not when Chuck, whose love and abused she had borne for years, was now apparently up for next casual buyer.

She wanted Dan's hand back, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She didn't want him to think that she was weak. Her eyes grew watery and she knew that Dan was quietly looking at her—not with pity, but with understanding. She glanced at his face, solemn and calm, and for a second and felt relief that he was there. His presence was enough.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-

Yeah! Only a few more scenes until the kiss! Actually, I am glad to be writing chronologically. Thank you to the reviewers who suggested this because it definitely fleshes out their emotional growth more. Please review? More reviews mean a story gets more traffic and if you like what you read, don't you want others to read it too? Let the great Dair ship sail in this world, even if the writers of GG won't.


	10. When Harry Met Sally

Previously in Chapter 8 – Dan and Blair have a Polonius moment behind the curtains and Blair discovers that Chuck's feelings for Reina are real. Dan holds her hand.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-

Dan was still looking at her, his eyes still searching for signs of pain in her face, but Blair jerked her mouth into a tight smile.

"Dan. I have to go. I have to apologize to Serena."

"Blair." He wanted to say something more useful, but he knew that she couldn't really take anymore of being around him, or being around anyone. Dan understood. He wasn't the right person for the job. She so hated to be vulnerable in front of others and the many moments he had seen her brought low mostly involved the bastard Chuck. Maybe going to Serena would help. The hard set of her face sent him in to retreat. "Ok. Have a good night."

Blair walked into Serena's room holding a 10 dollar box of chocolates like the flimsy peace offering it was. Even though Serena had been distracted with the matters of Ben for weeks now, Blair recognized that her best friend was only trying to shield her from the pain of seeing the former love of her life with a new love. Chuck had traded her for a hotel and now it looks as if his heart was just as easily bartered for Reina's affections and the power of Thorpe Enterprise. She felt stabbed in the heart when she saw the exchange behind Dan's shoulders. It was odd though, because of his prescence, Blair didn't feel like completely falling apart. His solidness stood between Blair and the awful scene she was witnessing, and she felt marginally better that he was there as well.

Blair thought about the promises she had made to Serena in Paris, this year they were going to start over, no more one-upmanship and constant competition, but it looked like she had fallen the first battle axe. Blair swallowed hard as she looked at her friend, who was still in her evening dress and moodily tracing the pattern of her duvet.

Blair felt such love for Serena in this moment and a deep sense of regret washed over her. How could she hurt the one person in her life that protected her even as Serena herself was drowning in a vortex of problems? Serena had her inconsistencies, but her love for Blair never faltered, she never doubted Blair. Her throat clenched as she sat next to Serena and confessed all her sins. Serena smiled at her friend wryly, she was used to Blair's scheming ways, and even though this latest slap felt like Blair had again fallen into old patterns, the way that she came clean so quickly at least felt a little like progress. Serena's life's motto was 'water under the bridge,' so she took this latest offense in stride.

"Are you going to be ok being alone?" Serena cast a concerned glance at Blair's face, which had no traces of the brimming tears that she had almost shed in Reina's suite.

"Not yet." Blair was so relieved. "But I need to start learning to be. Go, have fun with your parolee." Blair wasn't entire up on this whole Mother Teresa act of Serena's in saving the former felon, Ben, but she recognized that the same tenacity that allowed Serena to save Ben was the also the same spirit that allowed Serena to forgive her over and over again. Her lovely friend always thought the best about people, and maybe Blair was starting to understand what the payoff of those rose colored glasses were.

Serena was waving her goodbyes when Blair's phone suddenly beeped with a new email. It was Dan.

"Maybe it's a secret valentine." Serena's words startled Blair. Her friend smiled at her surprised expression and lightly stepped out into the night. It was the last few hours of Valentine's day and Serena van der Woodsen had one waiting. Life was still good.

Blair didn't quite know what to make of Serena's comments since her friend certainly didn't know that the message was coming from her ex. An ex that was quickly becoming as dependable as the New York Times for Blair. She looked at the message, "New rewrites on the way" and decided to put an end to Dan's publishing limbo.

"'ello." Dan's voice rumbled pleasantly across the phone line.

"Why the hell would you do that?" She quickly jumped in. Dan and she had a way of being in the middle of a conversation as soon as they started talking. No introductions or segues needed.

"This way I can start a whole new round of pestering you to submit it." Blair didn't like to admit how she like the silky rumble in Dan's voice, especially on the phone because sometimes it sounded like he was talking directly into her ear.

"But I already did. Yesterday. I gave your article to a junior editor at Vanity Fair," She picked up the lighter from her desk and walked to her favorite candle near the fireplace. "Not Details. I'm assuming that won't be a problem?"

"Wait, so you submitted it without reading?"

"Of course I read it. I have a reputation to uphold."

"And you still put me through the wringer." He sounded amused to her ears, but over in Brooklyn, Dan was in such a state of surprise that he dropped unconsciously into his computer chair.

"It was good." Blair sighed. She wasn't ready to talk about how close the article had hit home. But in context of just his writing, she could be honest. With her heart, that was another matter

"Mmm, I'm sorry." His tone had gotten almost impossibly soft. "What did you just say?"

"You heard me. It was sharp and well observed. When it comes to experiencing an ex with a new love, you have some insight." Even as he realized that she was still smarting over the events of the evening, Dan still couldn't keep the grin off his face. Blair Waldorf actually like it, and paid him a compliment. In his wildest dreams, he didn't think it she would be so forthcoming with her compliments since she always made everyone work for hers.

"Hmm. How, how are you doing with all that?" Dan leaned on one elbow. He was pretty unsure of himself in this territory, but felt that if he didn't ask, it would be an omission of the exchange they had earlier. Even when she pulled away, Dan still knew that she was wounded and hurting. The many times he had been left dangling by Serena, the soft inquiry of someone who knew would have made a world of difference. That's who Dan was trying to be to Blair, that someone.

"Ugh. Well, I'm seeking refuge with the perfect anti-valentine's day movie." Blair padded over to her bed and ensconced herself beneath the covers. Her laptop was already open and waiting. "Rosemary's baby."

He perked up at her sense of humor, picking the classic satan-worshipping movie was the perfect antiseptic to the platitudes of today's stupid holiday. He grabbed his copy from the shelf immediately.

"What part are you at? I'll watch with you. Forgive me if I've memorized some of Ruth Gordon's dialogue." He paused, not at all embarrassed. "Alright, all of it."

She chuckled at the image of Dan as Ruth Gordon. "It just started."

Dan thought there were many advantages to watching a movie with Blair—but over the phone, they could snark back and forth without the threat of popcorn avalanche from other unhappy movie watchers. Though, over the phone, he couldn't look at her almost incandescently beautiful face being lit by the shimmering light of the projector. He did relish that view. Back to the moment at present, he could just listen to her acid wit cutting Mia Farrow's character to bits.

"My point is that paranoia can save your life," Blair was saying.

"Oh, so she was suppose to know that her husband was going to sell their first born to a coven?"

"The woman couldn't be more naïve!" He could hear the exasperation in her voice. "Who eats unsolicited desserts?"

"Mm. Point taken." He switched his phone to the other hand. "The mousse was creepy. You know how many gloves I've lost on the subway?"

"You do often seem cursed."

"I do, don't I?" But Dan didn't feel cursed. At least not while he had Blair on the other end.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-

This was short, but needed to be resolved. So one more episode until the kiss. I actually can't wait to write While You Were Sleeping because it was such an good homage to screwball comedy. Please review? More reviews mean a story gets more traffic and if you like what you read, don't you want others to read it too? Let the great Dair ship sail in this world, even if the writers of GG won't.


	11. Dan Full of Grace

Previously in Chapter 9 – Dan and Blair watch Rosemary's Baby together

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-

Dan loved the subway. It was cheap, efficient, and on terrible mornings like this, he could zone out in the masses of people and just focus on his destination, which today was the midtown offices of W magazine. He barely slept at all last night because Serena and Ben were in the next room, chattering and making moony noises at each other. Lofts were not known for being soundproof, his place was no exception. He tried burying his head underneath the pillow, he tried earplugs, eventually, he just gave up and started pounding away at his laptop. Angst was always good for writing. In the morning, he saw the happy golden couple, eating toast and drinking coffee, a sight which did not really ease the dull ache in his chest. Dan made a few sharp excuses and quickly left; his own home felt oppressive with his ex and her new boyfriend. Danny Tanner he was not.

He was looking forward to seeing Blair. The unpalatable taste of Serena's new love was acrid in his mouth. He wanted to distract himself with Waldorf. She would yell, she would hiss, and she would berate, but at least Blair never said that she loved him only to fall in love five days later. Her aim was always true. When he walked into Blair's office, he overheard the senior fashion editor give his friend a stern warning about losing her interns to Blair's "aggressive" management style. Blair's style of governing came directly from the Spanish Inquisition.

"Not to worry, my new intern is already here." He heard her immediate cover and knew that he would be the victim. That Waldorf.

He looked at her quizzically, but she was already on her way back to a desk that was disappearing under a mountain of work. Immediately, Blair grabbed three different phones and started rapid-fire instructions into each one. She glanced up at him, "This job offer won't last forever."

"No way am I going to work for you." He leaned into her space. "I came here to see if you wanted to have lunch, not sign up for indentured servitude." He didn't know when having lunch with Blair became routine, but number 1, he enjoyed her company, and number 2, he didn't have to be around the newly minted couple in his loft.

Before he could continue, she was waving one manicured finger at him to shush. She was already in the middle of two conversations.

"Penelope, I see on Gossip Girl that you're between 36th and 48th street. That is a tasteful gift free zone. Get back in the cab. What do you mean you don't know the price of the clutch? You are Prada. Let me speak to Miuccia!"

Dan was still smiling at her bemused when she noticed he was still there, waiting for his answer.

"Tell me, for someone who is so determined to remain a free person, why are you still here?" She gestured with her blackberry as the art editor dropped off an even larger pile of work. Blair had a moment of weakness. He got closer to her eye level and smirked.

"I am not going to work for you. But as a friend, I am willing to help out."

A sense of relief immediately washed over Blair, before she could even process, she was motioning her third phone in his face.

"All you have to do, is admit you need me."

"What?" She was shocked. What was Humphrey trying to pull? "Never. The last person I need is Dan Humphrey, who shouldn't flatter himself by thinking he's my friend." She was becoming so frazzled by the hundreds of demands that this job entailed. She desperately wanted lunch, since she hadn't eaten since last night, but she couldn't afford the loss of 45 minutes in an 16 hour day. Now Dan was here, and he was being even more annoying with his whole song and dance number about her needing him. What a load of rubbish. Why couldn't he just offer his help with no strings attached?

He resisted smiling at her—he knew that her we're-not-friends defense was the last line before she cracked. He strolled to the front of her desk, sat down and kicked his feet onto the surface. He could wait it out, but she couldn't.

"Yes, I need immediate delivery of four venti lattes with extra shots." Blair was snapping into the phone. "None of which are for you." She glared at him pointedly.

"Oh good, I don't really like refreshments with my theah-tah," he drawled out his vowels like old timey New England theater critic. Blair only gave him a nose wrinkle in reaction to what he thought was a pretty awesome joke.

An hour later, Dan was still in her office, pacing the floor and delivering a running commentary on the Blair work-whirlwind. She didn't want to admit that she wasn't annoyed at all, Dan in the office only gave her more opportunities to glare and volley back her best barbs. She wondered why he was staying—it couldn't just be that she finally begrudgingly offered him one of her four coffees? He was staying out of her way, but his presence was actually making her grueling workday more fun. She loved Dan's acerbic wit, even as she was she was trampling down on some fine argument point of his.

"I need that opera!" The senior editor who poked her head in the doorway looked at her, puzzled. "—as a front of book idea. They're doing Boris Gudenov this spring. Who doesn't love Tsars and Cossacks?" Blair knew she was treading on thin ice—she just hoped that her flimsy excuse was enough to buy her a fifteen more minutes.

"Seems a better concept for fall, but I'll run it by the group." Her editor accepted the suggestion without a hitch. Blair sighed with relief and turned back to her art history exam, which she was dictating to one of her minions via Bluetooth. Dan had seen James Bond movies that were less complicated that Blair's workday.

"So you're not ready to admit you need my help." He had taken off his coat and made himself comfortable in her office. It was more his style to be persistent until he got what he wanted.

"Never." She shot back at him. "Never isn't what he transitioned Spain into. It's modernism and don't get caught talking during a test." Blair slammed a cupful of pens into her mouth—that was definitely not her coffee.

"When was the last time you slept?" His voice was gentle with concern.

Blair quickly dismissed his sympathy. "Sleep is for the weak!" She managed to fumble around for the last of the three lattes she had downed in the past fifteen minutes. "Speaking of which, don't act like I don't know why you're really here. It's because you're avoiding Serena and Ben at the loft." She had already noticed that Serena wasn't in her room this morning as she was getting ready for her 6AM run to the office.

"No, I'm waiting for you to crack." He walked over to her computer on the other side of the office, only partially in denial. Blair's senior editor popped into the room again.

"Stefano says to research the opera. And what's the ETA on today's blog post?"

Blair spun around and weakly answered, "within the hour."

Dan glanced at her laptop, which was open to the HTML editor for her blog, the Blair Necessities—but the screen was completely blank. He could definitely pound out a blog entry in about 30 minutes if only Blair would admit that she needed him. Her denial of their friendship was growing tiresome, he wanted her to at least admit it to him, even if she couldn't admit it to anyone else.

"Blair. If you take on one more thing, you're going to break." He felt like he was watching a train wreck in progress. He was almost about to crack his resolve and help her, regardless of official friendship status or not. But he didn't expect that he would need an elegant exit strategy in the next five seconds.

Serena burst into the room in a flurry of blond energy, trailed by Eric. Dan shifted uncomfortably, he didn't really expect to see his ex girlfriend here, seeing as he specifically left his apartment to avoid her.

"Blair, we need your help with a scheme!"

"She can't." Dan knew that whatever crazy scheme that needed to be cooked up would be the feather that broke Blair's back.

"Ugh. I can!" Blair was never one to refuse a good scheme. She was still looking at Serena and Eric's puzzled expressions as she continued dictating on her blackberry, "New paragraph, the nude _maja _began Goya's separation from religious iconography—"

"What are you doing here?" Serena craned her head to look at him.

Well, that was inevitable. Dan decided that now was a good time as any to avoid Serena's obliviousness. He had told her this morning that he had a lunch thing in midtown. Now it was lunchtime, he was in midtown, clearly his plans were with Blair. But he didn't feel like explaining it to his ex. "I'm leaving. This just went from Women on the Verge to Saw II. I don't like gore porn really." Blair watched him leave, a little disappointed that he was bailing as soon as Serena stepped back in the picture.

Serena pursed her lips. "Are you sure you can help us? You seem pretty busy."

"A takedown only takes two minutes. Tell me the plot points." She finally put both of her phones down on the desk. Blair Waldorf wasn't about to give up scheming for her full time job or her full time schooling. What a doo zee Serena and Eric were in—all the usual scandalous elements were there: drugs, money, sex, perjury. Damien Dalgaard, the very same drug dealer they found in Cornwall was blackmailing Eric. Somehow, the rat had gotten Eric to confide his mother's legal problem, and now he was using Eric as his new drug mule. Blair thought, since we're talking about a Class A drug that Eric was suppose to deliver (along with 100 tulips), if the drug were traced at all, the police would come barreling down Park Avenue, billionaire's son or not. Essentially, she would need someone non-important to grab the drugs, that way if they were implicated, at least her inner circle wouldn't be afflicted.

This was the kind of stuff that Blair would normally lived for, but today, she had about a million other things ahead on the to do list. Her brain felt so sluggish—she'd been only sleeping about 3 hours a night for the past two weeks. Scheming was Blair's second nature so even in her addled state, she still squeezed out a semi-decent plan—not her best work, but it would have to do.

"Penelope, I'm putting someone new on gifts. Return immediately for your new and urgent flower mission. All the details are on a purple sticky note on my computer." Blair had been extremely annoyed by Penelope lately. Penelope was one of her oldest minions, following her from Constance to Columbia, but lately she was showing signs of rebellion. Blair was going to shoot two birds with one stone. Penelope had a rich enough lawyer daddy in case if she ran into any legal problems with the cocaine tulips. Blair took a sharp intake breath of relief as she saw his neat figure walk through the doorframe of her office.

"It's about time!" She sighed dramatically.

"You texted me like two minutes ago. I was downstairs getting a sandwich." He had gotten the text while he was sorting between turkey club or BLT. Instead of one normal text, the one from Blair was in all capital letters and slightly hysterical. "Now, what's so urgent?"

"I wanted to tell you—that—you were right. About that thing." She demurred.

Dan squinted at her and cocked his head. "Now, which thing was that?"

Ugh, he was going to make her say every word. "I—Blair Waldorf, need Dan Humphrey's help." Her eyes darted nervously.

"As a friend and peer, not as an underling." He wasn't about to become Penelope 2.0.

"As my friend and peer, not as my underling," She hesitated and muttered under her breath. The words felt so strange in her mouth. She glanced up and he was doing a dead on impression of her. She tried to regain the composure of her face, but was failing; this situation could not be more ridiculous.

"As my friend and peer, not my underling," she finally let her words trickle off. Dan was looking so smug she almost wanted to take it back. But he was right, she did need him.

"Culinary crisis in features." The senior editor was back. "Ted's got a lead on rare white truffles. We need you." Blair sighed, at least someone was going to try to hack her pile of work down to a reasonable size.

"Ok, so what do you want me to do?" Dan headed towards her desk.

"It's all on my desk. Just start!"

He rubbed his hands together and looked at her crazy office. The inbox was overflowing the rest of the work space and her computer was covered with sticky notes. He noticed the gigantic purple note on her laptop marked urgent. Hmm, 100 purple tulips from the flower market, he could do that and still have time enough to return to work on her blog, which was suppose to have been published 15 minutes ago. Dan grabbed his coat and headed towards Chelsea.

Dan had already left when Blair returned to her desk—the truffles needed a recipe and Blair made a quick call to her gourmand father in France, who provided an original and therefore publishable recipe. One down, eight-two thousand other things to go. As her minions started filing in with their daily reports, she noticed that Penelope hadn't gotten the tulips she was assigned two hours earlier. Blair walked over to her computer, fully ready to unleash her legendary tongue lashing, but the purple sticky note wasn't there. And neither was Dan. Oh shit.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-

Hey readers, do let me know what you think. I really enjoy reading your comments—they inspire me to write more. Thanks!


	12. The Philadelphia Story

Previously in Chapter 10: Dan visits Blair at W. Blair is on the verge of a breakdown.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

She was hoping against hope that nothing too terrible happened to Dan when he was picking up the cocaine tulips. Scenarios from the movie _Traffic _kept flashing in front of her, but she had to dismiss them all, there was still a million things to do at the magazine or she'd be toast. Blair barely had time to speed home and change for Eric's birthday party. She spotted Serena and—thankfully—Dan as soon as she stepped into the van der Humphrey penthouse.

"Blair, what were you thinking?" Serena rushed up as soon as she saw Blair.

"That I would arrive and be greeted appropriately?" She was feigning a sense of calm.

"I know that you only admitted you needed me so that you could make me your drug mule." Dan held out the offending purple sticky note. By the set in his jaw, Blair knew that Dan wasn't just annoyed this time. She could see how he got to his conclusion. Even though she admitted to needing him at W, their newly formed friendship was still on thin ice. One wrong move, and the other person would be left with the proverbial hot cocaine potato. Poor Dan. He thought she was only playing him so that she could hand off the dirty work. She thought fast.

"That sticky note was meant for Penelope. Frankly, with her attitude, she could use some time behind bars." She was babbling now.

"So that's it? There's no I'm sorry I could have gotten you arrested?"

"Well." Blair was trying to maintain an air of nonchalance—she knew that if she showed any hint of hesitation, everyone would know she was actually drowning in her responsibilities. "You're here, the party is lovely. Everything obviously turned out fine." She hollowly beamed, hoping that her smile would restore her to everyone's good graces.

"—Except you sent Dan to get the wrong flowers." Serena wasn't done with Blair yet. "The tulips with the coke were pink."

"And I wrote that down." Blair spotted the way out and immediately deflected. "This one's on you Humphrey!"

He handed her the purple sticky note. "You wrote purple. Classic Stroop effect—"

"—where you write or say the color you see instead of the one you mean." She looked down at the note in her hand, the word purple was underlined twice and in capital letters. A sinking feeling started in her stomach. She glanced up at Dan's face, which still held some simmering anger. "You're not the only one that knows his neurodysfunction." she retorted defensively.

She saw Eric approach them and weakly wished him a happy birthday, which didn't seem possible now that she had lost the cocaine and Damien would out Lilly at her son's 18th birthday party. Eric was a little too preoccupied to notice Blair's nerves.

"I just got off the phone with Damien. Turns out he pre-sold the coke and therefore is on his way to pick up the 100,000 dollars he says I now owe him."

"That's insane, nobody has that kind of money do they?" Dan placed his hand at his waist. Sometimes, he just did not understand the UES's economies of scale.

Blair was bemused by Dan's reaction—no matter how many Hugo Boss suits Lilly Humphrey would buy him, Dan would never really understand the UES. One hundred thousand dollars might be a huge sum in Brooklyn, but Dan, of all people should know, that Eric, as the son of Lilly Rhodes Van Der Woodsen Humphrey, would have a few hundred thousand in various types of trust funds.

"No." Eric hesitated. "Not on them, but we need it now. Or he's going to out Mom here tonight." Even though Eric was the youngest one—he had carried the burden of the Van Der Woodsen guilt on his back for years. Now, in a moment of weakness to Damien, he was afraid that he had destroyed his whole family. For the first time in a long time, Eric looked to Serena for help.

"It's your 18th birthday, which means the checkbook to your Rhodes trust fund in somewhere in that pile of presents." Serena's mind jumped quickly. Even as she felt conflicted about her mother's role in Ben's imprisonment, she knew without a doubt that she could not let Lilly go to jail. The look on Eric's face said it all, their small family was close to unraveling at the seams, and if there was something as simple as money fixing a problem, then so be it. Eric and Serena quickly left for the scavenger trust fund hunt. Blair glanced at Dan, his face had softened—the accusatory set of his jaw was completely gone, but there was something else in place.

"I know that you think that Stroop is one of the classic symptoms of chronic fatigue, but I'm not even tired." She blinked a few times rapidly. He gave her a exasperated look and jerked away. He didn't believe her, not by a long shot. Blair pouted for a second. She couldn't admit that Dan was right. She couldn't admit that one of the many reasons she was pushing herself to the brink was so that she could become the woman she wanted to be when Chuck was finally ready to commit. Would Dan even understand that weird twist of logic in her brain? She frowned and went to Dan—he had no right to be obnoxiously concerned about her well-being. She could handle herself.

Before she found him, Bryn Harold crossed her path. Carpe Diem! Blair quickly cornered the fashionista and started debriefing the woman on her new career at W. Blair was too tired to notice Bryn Harold's eyes were rapidly scanning the room for someone, and now her critical eyes were on Blair's shoes.

"You do realize you're wearing two different shoes? By the way, have you seen Chuck Bass? I heard he's dating Reina Thorpe and I'd love an introduction." Bryn dismissed her without so much as a nod.

"No, I haven't seen either of them." Blair replied tersely. She frowned at Bryn's departing figure. What was going on tonight? Why wasn't anything working? She felt like she was only clinging onto the steering wheel of her life; she was on thin ice at work, now Dan was angry with her, Bryn Harold had made a devastating fashion proclamation, and she had sent hipster nudes to her mother. She felt like she was clawing at illusions that would fade as soon as her hands touched them. All this effort and where did it leave her? She needed to be alone.

She found herself in a guest room of the sprawling Van Der Humphrey penthouse. Blair cradled the Baccarat bowl that she accidentally gave to Eric instead of her mother. So many things were wrong tonight.

"Hey." Dan stepped into the room.

"Can't a person have privacy to make a phone call?" She spun around—reluctant to break her train of thought.

"Where's your phone?" His voice had gotten impossibly soft again. At least he didn't seem mad at her anymore.

"Look Blair, I just wanted to tell you that you were right. I was only hanging out at W to avoid being at the loft with Serena and Ben."

"That's your big revelation? I think you've gotten less smart since high school Humphrey. Oh that's right, you go to NYU."

Dan took her onslaught without blinking; he didn't even bother to remind her that she had gone to NYU until this year. He looked at her posture, clinging onto a crystal bowl as if she would fall apart if she let the thing go, and he knew that nothing was right with Blair.

"Well I'm smart enough to see that your race to greatness has come down to a competition with Reina."

"That's ridiculous! She's from the Midwest."

"You're the one wearing two different shoes." Dan had been right behind her when Bryn Harold pointed out this humiliating detail.

"Because of Dorota! My problem isn't emotional. It's administrative."

Dan shook his head in frustration. Blair had this way of admitting her problem in complete denial. He didn't have a chance to convince her otherwise since one of her underling from Columbia knocked at the door.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have delegation disasters to fix." She was so relieved that she didn't have to continue this train of thought with Humphrey. He knew exactly what was wrong with her—and she didn't want to face what that meant in her life; no one else knew—not Serena, not her mother, not Chuck. She was listening numbly to her minion recount the failures of the day—great, a pile on to an already disastrous list. As her minion was telling about how she loved her blog, the Blair Necessities, Blair halted.

"The blog? What? I completely forget."

"All that stuff about servants being like belts and purses overpriced and interchangeable. It was really funny. Or mean."

"Was there something about admitting you need friends?" She had an inkling that the person responsible for saving her butt had just walked out of the room.

"Friends are the fashion fundamentals. See you did write it."

Blair's shoulders sagged. She felt guilty about how she dismissed Dan. He had stuck with her through this entire day from hell. He gave her truth when she didn't want to hear it. He offered her help when she needed it. He put himself in direct danger (though, unknowingly) because her crazy brain had worked out a scheme had as many problems as swiss cheese had holes. She twisted her hands, she didn't want to see Chuck now. She would have to explain why she was depressed about not living up to a version of herself that she created for him. Serena had already disappeared. She sighed. There was only one option left.

Dan was already back in Brooklyn. He tried to wash his hands of tonight—progress with Blair was a rare event, and he doubted that even he could make that much of a dent in her deep denial. He was a little moody though. He grabbed a delivery menu and started thumbing through the options when he heard a small knock at the door.

Blair stood in the doorway, resigned. Dan looked at her—she seemed so tired, it was amazing that she was holding herself upright. He wanted to sit her down and ran his hands through her hair. Those were inappropriate actions, Dan thought to himself—so he kept his arms tight against his body, lest his body act without him.

"Your friends as fashion metaphor was well executed. But did not save my job." She walked in without a greeting. They always did this now—restarting in the middle of thoughts, sentences, ideas as if they never spent more than five minutes apart.

"You got fired?" He looked at her sitting on the bar stool in his kitchen. Her Upper East Side façade was rapidly fading.

"Slash quit. Donna said they've been watching me for a while. Hoping for thebest." She looked down at the coat in her arms and plucked at the invisible lint. "Let's face it, I'm imploding." She looked back up at him, he was still standing a few arms length away. His posture was polite, observing her and giving her the space she needed. "At least you got your name in the blog."

"I'm sorry, Blair." His voice rumbled pleasantly. And for some reason, the sound of those three words opened the flood gates within her.

"I thought that if I could be the Blair Waldorf I want to be, a little sooner, that maybe I could return to Chuck before he fell for someone else."

Dan swallowed, "Well, you do know, Reina broke up with him."

"Yes. In my head." She looked at her friend, his intelligent brown eyes searching hers. She felt relieved that she was here, that he was here for her. "But in my heart, I feel further away than ever. Tonight he's thinking about a different girl. Meanwhile, I lost my job, I failed my test, I almost got my best friend's mother arrested." She smiled up at him finally—her gloom breaking a little. "And, I'm in Brooklyn, talking about it with Dan Humphrey."

He chuckled. The lady did really doth protest too much.

"Well, I'm about to order some pizza, if you want to stay."

"I think someone Freaky Friday-ed me. This can't possibly be my life." She was still smiling though.

"Well it is, what do you want?" He leaned in closer to her as she leafed through the pizza choices. She could smell him when he was this close—the strong lines of his arms rested on the kitchen bar, next to her—and she felt calm. He smelled like clean soap and warmth, she couldn't help but shift closer to him.

"Gourmet I suppose." She sighed. She felt like the center in her world had tilted, but now for some reason, in Brooklyn, she had righted herself again. When they sat on the couch to start watching the Philadelphia Story, she kicked off her shoes and tucked herself comfortable next to Dan. _The Philadephia Story _was one of her favorites, and as it turned out unsurprisingly, one of Dan's favorite too. She drowsily noticed that one of the shoes that she was wearing was one half of the pair she had given to the Prince Grimaldi in Paris. Well, maybe Cinderella didn't always need to be rescued by a prince. Maybe sometimes she just needed a strong shoulder, kind words, and the flawless love for strong heroines. She mused to herself, more than ever, she wanted to be the strong heroine that choose for herself, not for anyone else. Her mind was so sluggish now, she chuckled at a few of Jimmy Stewart's lines before her eyelids grew impossibly heavy.

Halfway through the movie, Dan felt her slight weight rest against him—this was unexpected. She was very comfortable around him, but rarely did they make much physical contact. Her deep steady breathing told him that she had fallen asleep—he didn't dare to stir in case he woke her—lord knows she needed sleep more than anything else right now. He looked down at the thick lashes that rested on the curve of her cheek and he nuzzled the top of her head softly. She would never allow him to give such a tender gesture if she were awake. He didn't know what to make of himself. Why did he care so much? He chewed the inside of cheek and smiled crookedly. Blair was the most unlikely friend of his—but in reality, they were probably more alike than they would care to admit. He drift off to sleep remembering something about pride and prejudice getting in the way of love.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Yaaah. Empire of the Son is next! Are you excited? And only three more weeks until April 18th. Let me know in the comments too what your speculations for the new episodes will be too!


	13. A Dickensian Coincidence

**Previously in Chapter 11 – Blair falls asleep at Dan's place. **

**Thanks to **.com/tagged/dair for the transcripts.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

**Blair was having a great morning. She stepped into her closet and picked out a nude Jill Stuart shirt to complement the very preppy pencil skirt she was already wearing. Her outfit was a study in contrasts and she felt a little funny that she was so gleeful about the "field trip" she finally agreed to after some much cajoling by Dan. Maybe it was because a few nights ago, she had fallen asleep against his shoulder after a particularly grueling day. When she woke up in the sunny loft, she felt refreshed and at ease—something was changing inside her and her instincts told her that it was a good thing. During the night, his arms had fallen against her body, and now he held her in a loose embrace. She smiled up at sleepy Dan, who was still semi-asleep; he stretched out his nicely muscled arms and briefly hugged her unconsciously. Before he could rub his eyes open, Blair quickly stepped away from the couch. **

**"I'm going for a coffee run!" She called out as she ran towards the door. She had to get out of there, all the intimacy of waking up with Dan Humphrey in the morning had thrown her for a loop. It was still winter in New York—the crisp cold air cleared her lungs as soon as she inhaled a deep breath. She spotted a rather charming café, by Brooklyn standards, and ordered two venti lattes with extra shots. **

**She slowed her pace as she approached DUMBO again. Sometimes, she forgot how beautiful Manhattan was from Brooklyn. As a denizen of the UES, she rarely ever saw the island from the outside, and today, in dazzling sunlight, the Brooklyn Bridge stretched powerfully over the river, connecting the two places that were so important to her in the last two years. She remembered telling Chuck about how she didn't even know how to get to Brooklyn before Serena met Dan. Years later, she knew the route to Brooklyn well and it was her saving grace on the her night of so many failures. Coffee was her inadequate gesture of thanks. **

**"Waldorf. You ran out of here like a bat out of hell. I didn't think my morning breath was that bad." He was rubbing his hair dry, a towel around his shoulders. He smelled like fresh soap and Hugo Boss aftershave. **

**"You know what I'm like without caffeine." She handed a cup to him and tried to ignore how nicely he filled out his t-shirt. In the handsome boy department, Blair had to admit that Dan was playing a close second to the first love of her life, Nate. While Nate Archibald had the aristocratic good looks of someone who never had to work very hard, Dan's handsomeness was completely different. The planes of his face were sharp, his curly hair had been cut in an almost James Dean way, but his deeply alert eyes and slightly pouty lower lip was what made him ridiculously attractive. But even more charmingly, Dan was completely unaware of her blatantly checking him out as he dried his hair. He grabbed the cup from her. **

**"And for that, I am grateful I still have my head." He took a sip. "Blair. How are you feeling?"**

**Blair felt a rush of warmth and let herself relax into the feeling. It was good to be friends with Dan Humphrey, he was loyal and truthful, and after a day of chasing her around, doing her bidding and listening to her almost fall apart, Dan was still waiting for her answer. **

**"Ugh. As much as I hate to admit it. I did take on too much. A full time job, Columbia and turning you into a drug mule?" She shook her head. "I dunno what I was thinking."**

**"—probably that you could outsource anything." Dan looked at her face. She looked so much better than when she arrived last night. The circles under her eyes had faded and a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Now that you have all this free time, how about you come with me to that Joseph Beuys exhibit at Moma on Saturday morning?"**

**"Humphrey! If I didn't know better, I'd say you tried to get me fired from W, again, so that you had someone to go with you to Beuys. "**

**"What can I say, I'm a devious guy." He shrugged at her mock indignation. **

**"Maybe." She started thumbing through her blackberry. **

**"Maybe what?"**

**"Maybe to Saturday."**

**"Just say yes Blair. I did go to the Morgan for you." He was grinning at her now. **

**"Please! And you enjoyed every second of me proving how wrong you were about Degas. That was for your edification. I don't know how much I can learn from you about Beuys."**

**"Trust me, I just want to return the favor. Besides, we can go get some Joe's Shanghai soup dumplings afterwards." He stepped a little closer to her, almost as if he was restraining himself from caressing her. Her breath hitched a beat and she quickly stepped away. **

**"How about I say a noncommittal yes and I will let you know on the day of?" She did love Joe's Shanghai. The soup dumplings were about the only thing she liked. It was so like Dan to appeal to her weaknesses. She looked at the freshly scrubbed friend of hers and smiled enigmatically. "I have to run! Real life means I actually have to attend my own classes now. I'll let you know on Saturday." **

**Blair shook her head a little. That morning could have been so awkward, but instead she felt a burden had been taken off her shoulders. She had landed on her feet, even if it was in Brooklyn. Now, this morning, all she had to focus on was getting through breakfast with Serena and then meeting Dan. She got a text from him that said, "Pick you up at 10?" She wrote back to tell him that she needed to finish breakfast with Serena. Blair decided to start on a juice cleanse yesterday; Dorota was instructed only to give her water and leafy-green juices for breakfast. After she watched Chuck ring the bell at NYSE, she gave some bland advice to Serena about how she should march to Brooklyn and speak with Ben after their night of post-jail coitus. Serena remarked to her best friend that she seemed happier than ever. Blair smiled to herself. **

**Dorota noticed her new-found sense of calm. Maybe because of her background in eastern Europe, Dorota was always prepared for the worst and now she was convinced that her Miss Blair had joined a cult since she seemed so "off" lately. Blair brushed off her maid/mother figure's speculations. Today was going to be a good day and nothing would ruin her mood. After she dispatched Dorota to get her dry cleaning, she quickly typed into her blackberry "Coast is clear, come over" to her secret friend. **

**Dan was lazily stretched out on her bed fifteen minutes later. Girls, he thought. Always packing for the day in Manhattan as if it was a mountaineer expedition. She walked around the room, picking up her phone, her notebooks, her camera, and her makeup. She glanced at the man stretched out in her bed and was struck by how comfortable he seemed. Maybe it was because they had spent so much time together planning their Cornwall expedition in her room, but now he was concentrating on his article, running his eyes intently over each word. She didn't admit to herself that she liked to watch him read, he always seemed so absorbed. **

"I can't believe I let you talk me into the Joseph Beuys exhibit after all."

"There's a great article on him in here; you should read it." He flipped up the magazine at her so she could see the cover and gave her a crooked smile. She resisted the look on his face, like a boy who just found the coolest view of the lion cages. Dan was handling their friendship with ease, it didn't seem to occur to him what other people could misconstrue. Yes, they weren't at Constance/St. Jude's anymore. She didn't have a legion of whispering-behind-the-fan followers as she did in high school, but it still didn't mean that they were home free.

Blair frowned. Going out in public with Humphrey was always difficult. She hadn't really defined their relationship to herself, and being in the context of other brought up too many complications she wasn't ready to examine. All she wanted to do was see this exhibit with Dan, engage in some heavy-hitting intellectual foreplay, and stuff her face with soup dumplings out of the sight of anyone else except for Dan, who would probably wipe her face jokingly after she bites into all too messy dumpling. Right now, she wanted to keep what they had secret, like a private island. "We should go over field trip procedures again."

"Oh, joy." He returned to his magazine.

"Ok, I arrive first, survey the location in case there's anyone I know, and scout out an exit strategy. You arrive at least 15 minutes later." She waved her hand in front of him so that he would pay attention. "Plausible deniability: we just ran into each other."

"You're really big on plausible deniability; has anyone ever told you that?" Dan looked at her. Not displeased, but not terribly happy either. He was trying to push her reluctance to been seen with him to the back of his mind. He wasn't keen on the idea of keeping each other a secret, but he was also smart enough to know when Blair wasn't going to veer from a set course for navigation. Whenever she had the plan whirring in her head, it was incredibly difficult to convince her otherwise.

"Do you want to explain to someone why we went somewhere together?" She wrinkled her forehead. Surely, Dan understood her concerns. Maybe it wasn't as a big deal to him?

From the hallway of her room, she heard Dorota's voice approaching her door. Blair's eyes widened and she grabbed Humphrey's arm and started dragging him to the shared bathroom that connected her room to Serena's.

"Is this really necessary?" He said to a door that was already closing on his face. He barely had time to grab his jacket on his exile to Serena's room, but he heard most of Blair's argument with Dorota. He sighed and glumly sat on Serena's bed. He would have to wait until both Blair and Dorota left before he could make his stealth exit. Dan ran rubbed the back of his neck, he was really annoyed by this new turn of events. Blair hiding him like he was some sort of shameful secret. Would anyone really be even shocked by their being together at all? They'd known each other for years. They were best friends with each other's exes, they had schemed together, they had been to an uncountable number of social events together, and yet here she was, pushing him out of her sight because she was afraid of what her maid thought? He really needed the wisdom of perspective right now. He found the cell phone in his pocket and dialed Rufus.

Dan was relieved to see his father. Lately, it seemed like Rufus had disappeared into the background of Lilly's life. God knows that Rufus loved Lilly more than life, but it had to be incapacitating to have no real function in that sprawling penthouse. He didn't even know what his father was doing with his days now that he sold Bedford Avenue Gallery. Dan hoped that his father was at least working on his writing or his music, something while his billionaire wife was trying to rescue Bass Industries.

Even though Dan and his father had a very solid relationship, this dynamic of his clandestine Blair-lationship (hah) made it hard to talk to Rufus. He told his father that he couldn't give any real details, but he needed advice anyways.

"You ever hung out with someone but not be able to tell anyone?"

"You mean, uh, hang out, hang out, or… _hang out, hang out_?" His father was doing a pale imitation of a television cool dad.

"God, this was a bad idea." Dan didn't think that the first conclusion that his father would jump to was that he was sleeping with someone secretly. But he could see how his question could be construed as such.

"What? That was vague! Well, for what it's worth, when Lily and I started hanging out _again_, neither of us wanted anyone else to know." Rufus looked at his son. Dan did look like he was troubled by something, but he didn't seem entirely unhappy, just confused. He knew that his son had a fraught history with Serena, but maybe now he was finally letting go of his first love. "But friendship can be a… an excuse, a cover when there's something more you don't want to admit, or you're too scared to explore." He wanted to encourage Dan towards something that was a little more substantial than his step-daughter, Serena, who seemed too wrapped up in her Lifetime Television "I'm in Love with Convict" romance.

"No… no, no, I mean there's, there's no way. I mean, even the thought of that is…" 

"Scary."

"No, I mean, we're not even _friends_! I swear! We're not— Listen, why don't we, why don't we just turn this coffee into a lunch?" What was his father saying? Was his friendship with Blair really a cover for something else? What the hell was that something else? He was friends with a girl who was also best friends with his ex. That was it, right? There was no way that their romantic wires could ever cross together. They were so different. She had her haute-bourgeois elitism and he had his working class reverse snobbism. But he knew that was putting things too simplistically. Blair was much more than the sum parts of her snobbery. She had gumption, intelligence, and undying loyalty to her friends—in the same way that old-fashioned people might say that she operated her own moral compass. Blair was also, much much more romantic than Serena. He couldn't miss how her face lit up every time Holly rushed out of the cab to grab Cat.

"I thought you said you only had an hour before you had to be somewhere?"

"I did, but now I don't." Meeting Blair right now would just confirm what his dad had been implying. He felt a little guilty about standing her up, but with the way that he was unceremoniously dumped this morning, he couldn't be even sure that she would make their drop point on time. Right now, lunch with Rufus was probably better than standing outside of Moma alone, waiting for a Waldorf.

As soon as they stepped outside onto Park Avenue, Blair breathed a sigh of relief. Dorota had been easily misdirected and now that she was accompanying her maid on the way to the dry cleaner, at least she was headed in the right direction towards Moma. Dorota, though, appeared to be taking in the scenery and plodded silently next to her. Blair frowned, at this pace, there was no way she was going to make it to the museum ahead of Humphrey. When she snapped at Dorota to pick up the pace, her maid finally exploded. Dorota whipped Dan Humphrey's New York magazine out of her apron with a magician's flourish.

"Just what are you implying?" Blair pulled her composure together. She couldn't believe that she was having this conversation.

"Your new secrecy," Dorota quickly gained confidence as she listed off the evidence. "—calmness with Mr. Chuck, supporting Miss Serena's new boyfriend, and last week I find Nova documentary in your Netflix queue!"

"What are you doing in my queue?" Blair tried for misdirection again.

"You and Lonely Boy are having affair!"

"We are not!" Dorota's words hit Blair like a ton of bricks. She felt a sick twist to her stomach. This was exactly how everyone around them would react to the news of their relationship. This was exactly why she didn't want to tell anyone else. "We have gone to a few things together. It started over the holidays; it's no big deal!" 

"No big deal? We have to tell Miss Serena!" 

"We will do no such thing!" Blair quickly backtracked. Telling Serena would mean a multitude of things that would either strain her relationship with her best friend or cause a rift with Dan—neither of which Blair was interested in. "I am not friends with Dan Humphrey, and to prove it I will happily skip the Beuys exhibit and leave him hanging." She scrambled for a new activity. "I would rather shop, anyhow! So come on, let's go, first stop Chloé!"

**Blair was putting Dorota through the gauntlet of Madison Avenue. Dorota could barely been seen behind boxes from **Chloé, Joseph, Cesare Paciotti, Prada, and Sonia Rykiel as Blair went from store to store like it was supermarket sweeps. One of the many advantages of living on the Upper East Side was the trove of shopping and just when she was relishing Dorota's punishment for making her miss her Humphrey date, she spotted his familiar grey wool coat, stepping out of Caravaggio. She quickly sent Dorota to Café Bouloud before turning around to face the fly in her ointment. Humphrey was nowhere near midtown, where he was suppose to be!

**"**Excuse me, why aren't you at MOMA, meeting me?" Her voice rang out.

"I decided to grab lunch with my dad instead." Dan was a little surprised running into her. He had made it a point to avoid her today, after that bizarre morning. "Why aren't you at MOMA meeting me?"

"I'm standing you up!"

"Ah, well, apparently great minds think alike." He chuckled and took a sip of the coffee in his hand.

"But I had a good reason." She was just on the verge of real anger.

" And I would love to hear that reason, but my dad is going to be out any second, and I haven't scouted an exit strategy for you, so…" He pressed his lips together in an expression of mild annoyance.

Blair had not expected this morning to come back to bite her on the behind so quickly. Maybe she was being paranoid by kicking him out of her room when Dorota showed up, but he had no idea what was being implicated here!

"We are not done here." Her eyes darted to the door to make sure that Rufus hadn't spotted them. Then she raised her chin defiantly to glare at him.

"Yeah, we are." He asserted with a nod. But Dan wasn't really sure what they were "done" with. If Blair was mad that he had stood her up, there was no real room for argument since she coincidentally was doing the same thing. Even with the bizarre morning, they were still on an even keel. As he watched her walk away, he felt a slight pang in his chest. Something bad had just happened and he didn't feel quite good about his decision to stand her up anymore—even if she was doing the same to him. She looked disappointed and confused. Which to be fair, were the same emotions that he was experiencing right now too. He decided to head home to Brooklyn. It was just too easy to run into drama on the Upper East side.

He was finishing up a new outline for a story he was writing when he heard her knock at the door. He always recognized her greeting, sharp and succinctly. As he opened the door, she gave him a cold look before almost running into him. Her chin was set defiantly as she spun around to speak. Dan didn't really feel like getting into an argument right now. He had a lot on his mind.

"Did you come all the way to Brooklyn just to yell at me? Because that's really not necessary."

"Yes it is." Blair took off her gloves. Sometimes, as she was getting ready to speak, she reminded Dan of a prizefighter. "Dorota saw your New York Magazine and accused us of having an affair! That's why I stood you up." She had to make him understand the gravity of the situation. Dan, as smart as he could be about people, was being incredibly obtuse about her.

"You mean, because we were sneaking around, she assumed we were… covering something up." Dan closed the door and pondered this. Dorota and Rufus were probably the two people closest to them outside of Serena and Nate. If they were suspicious, who else would be?

"Can you believe it?"

"Well, only because my dad basically told me the same thing. Look, if anyone else finds out about this—"

"They'll jump to the same conclusion! God, I knew you'd be my social death, Humphrey, I just knew it!"

"No, you know what?" He knew that Blair was just having a moment. It came back to the same argument he was having with himself this morning in Serena's bedroom. Why would it matter if anyone else found out? It was the secrecy that was making the relationship a bigger deal than it was. "It's gonna be fine. We can make it fine. All we have to do is tell everyone we've been hanging out. It's not going to be a big deal unless we keep making it a big deal."

"Right, which it totally isn't." She paced a little around the kitchen of the loft. She had to give Dan credit; he always managed to look at things from a ground level, without too much crazy flair or drama. But she didn't trust that her relationship with Humphrey would be so easily accepted. She had grown up on the Upper East Side, one could do anything as long as one knew how to set the bar. "You know, we should soften the ground, put out an anonymous post on Gossip Girl that some big secret is going to come out at Chuck's party. That way everyone will assume that some earth-shattering huge scandal is imminent, like—" 

**"**You getting traded for a hotel." He teased. After Blair had told him the entire story a few weeks ago, he didn't know exactly how to react to the whole package. It seemed so medieval, Chuck trading his woman for property. Blair, the amazingly resilient person that she was, was slowly moving beyond the horrendousness, and a few nights ago, she made a hilarious joke about Jack Bass, serfs, and triangular trade. He hadn't stopped laughing for minutes. 

"Or you raising Georgina's baby by a Russian mobster." That last comment grated on her nerves. "We'll have successfully managed expectations, and by the time our friendship is announced, it'll seem like nothing at all." She started typing the message to Gossip Girl. 

"So we tell everyone tonight, agreed?" Dan was actually excited. Now, all the crazy secrecy and junk could go away. He could just be himself and hopefully, Blair would continue to be the way that she was around him, snarky, hilarious but without the paranoia.

"Agreed." Blair finished typing and gave Dan a hard look. "Oh, and… only I get to joke about the hotel. Still too soon."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Ah oui, ze next chapter is the kiss. Get your Sebastian the crab on and get Humphrey ready to kiss the girl. Please review. Muchas gracias.


	14. Kiss the Girl

Previously in Chapter 13 – Blair and Dan decide to come out with their friendship.

This is the kiss chapter! It took 13 chapters to get here, but trust me it's worth it. Young readers, this story will venture into speculation territory and M territory. Please don't read if you're under aged.

-x-x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x

Dan leaned against the bar at the Empire. Another day, another Chuck Bass event. He tapped his glass of scotch against the marbled surface of the bar, making a dull clinking sound. Though, this one was suppose to be different. This was the event that they were suppose to out their not-at-all-compelling friendship to their friends and peers. He saw the Gossip Girl blast already about the big news coming out, so he assumed that Blair was already executing phase 1 of their plan. When he saw her deep in conversation with Serena, he sauntered over, confident that the whole reveal was working according to plan. But that was before he noticed the expression on Serena's face. His ex girlfriend looked like she was on the verge of cracking and Blair reassured him that it had nothing to do with them. There were bigger things at play tonight. He just wished knew what those things were. He noticed a slender arm resting on the same bar he was leaning against. Blair.

" Lily turning herself in and it's already on Gossip Girl. Looks like my fake post of big news turned out to be prophetic." Blair kept her voice soft. Being the bearer of this kind of news was never a thankful task. "This is going to hit the Upper East Side like a hurricane."

Dan dropped the glass a few inches to the bar. In all the seeming progress that he and Blair had made in one day was completely thrown out the window. He couldn't help but feel a little selfishly upset, but he always knew the right things to say in times like these, " Serena, Eric, Lily, they're going to need us now more than ever."

"And, not _us_. Dan and Blair, individual entities, two proper nouns separated by a conjunction." Blair wasn't sure why she was babbling now. Maybe it was because it sounded like Dan was edging into the same logical territory she already marked as destination. She knew this amount of intense family drama for both the Humphreys and the Van Der Woodsens meant no room for more complications. She had no doubt that Humphrey thought along the same lines. Dan needed to be available for his father, for Eric, and for he would play the shoulder to cry on as he had for so many years for Serena yet again. Serena, Blair reminded herself again. Serena was who was important in the whole scheme of things. Her beloved best friend would be going through a hell-storm of publicity and court appearances. The last thing Serena needed was to find something as incongruous in her world as the recently formed Humphrey-Waldorf alliance. Blair would miss him.

"Or a comma," He volleyed back. "if mentioned in a list."

"Which is rare since we have nothing in common and are, in fact, opposites." She gave a tight smile. Blair felt an uncomfortable coldness in her stomach. This conversation felt awful; as if they were shutting the window to something, the tension knotted her stomach.

"The kind of opposites that do not attract." Dan had been deliberating this point all day. Were they really opposites? Or were they paying lip services to the preconceived notions that they now knew to be untrue?

"Most definitely not." She quickly affirmed. Dan was right. They were too different and their pairing would cause inevitably too many problems in the small world in which they lived.

" No." Dan sucked in his upper lip and tried to feel his answer, but his voice sounded hollow.

" The world just wasn't ready for a Humphrey/Waldorf friendship." For a second, Blair didn't want to look at him anymore. He was giving her one of those reassuring expressions and it wasn't something she wanted to see—knowing that she wouldn't be able to see it again anytime soon. He wouldn't be calling for writing advice. He wouldn't be texting her about the latest Tati review at Film Forum. Would he go to eat at Joe's Shanghai by himself? Who would he drink coffee with in the mornings? It wasn't like Humphrey was dying. They just needed to get through these next few months intact. She finally glanced back up at his handsome face. "It's been nice not being friends with you."

He couldn't resist her wordplay and smiled awkwardly. "Yes, Let's not do it again some time." He held out his hand and she shook it firmly.

Their eyes held each other's for a moment. But really, what could they do now?

Dan found Rufus as soon as he could. His father had the calm of someone who was wrapping everything tightly under control. His wife, Lilly, looked surprisingly at ease too. Rufus told him that it would be better if he went home—there was really nothing to be done until the DA arrived to arrest Lilly. Dan walked out of the Empire and thought he might take a long walk, something to clear the mess inside his head. He started south, being a solitary walker on the Brooklyn Bridge sounded perfect right now. Bridges, wonderful structures that brought separated lands together, but his bridge also stood as symbol of the deep separation between his worlds. One part of him was born to Brooklyn, now another part of him was gradually acclimating, even learning to love the UES. It wasn't the location, it was the people that he loved within the blocks above 70th. He thought about Blair's eyes. They were so intelligent, quick and expressive. Did she have a flicker of regret during their friendship concession speech? He could only speculate now. This was block twenty-five away from the Empire and his mind was just as muddled than when he just left the bar.

When was it that he realized that his feelings for her were more than he could process? He couldn't help lingering on the curve of her lip and the apple of her cheeks when she was laughing at him. He wanted her crystal-clear ambitions to push at him, to poke him out of the comfortable zone. He wanted to seek her out, if only to hear her berate his choice of clothing and company. But at least he would be laughing with her.

Did she feels the same way? Ever since she entrusted him with the mission of saving Serena's reputation after Juliet hacked it to bits, their easy camaraderie surprised him—but he always knew that Blair was much deeper than what she appeared.

More than four years ago, he remember Blair sitting in an empty hallway, her dress spilled in a Kelly green pool—more vulnerable than he had seen anyone. Blair's mother had chosen Serena, over her own daughter, as the model for the new Eleanor Waldorf line of teen clothing. Not only had Eleanor chosen Serena, she didn't even bother to tell her own daughter her reasons. All this he overheard as Blair was furiously crying to Serena on the staircase. Blair wasn't the supremely confident Queen B of Constance—far from it.

He knew only slightly then, but now he knew it more than ever, the incredible frustration that came from being coupled with Serena van der Woodsen. She floated easily out of trouble and landed on her feet into success and love; she never needed Blair's determination and ambition but it was Blair who needed love but was never given enough. People and opportunities fell into Serena's lap, and she would coo and pet whatever presents she got and sweetly pass it forward, never realizing the importance of the offers themselves. In the not too distant past, Nate, Blair's then boyfriend, had fallen under the Serena spell and now, Eleanor was offering a modeling career on a platter. Serena didn't understand why Blair was so angry, all Serena wanted was to make things right between them.

He had spoken to her in the hallway, after that fight with Serena. He didn't know if she was listening to him, but after she had laid herself bare and he had seen her so very emotionally naked, he felt that his honesty was the least he could offer.

When he was swept up in Serena, he saw Blair as his girlfriend's best friend, prone to trouble making with Chuck Bass and shallowly ruining other people's lives—his sister's included. For a while, he forgot about the Blair that he saw in the hallway, the girl who would break as soon as he touched her, but would stand defiant to the entire world. For years, he thought Blair and Chuck were molded from the same coin, made out of cold ambition and perversity. People were pawns to be moved out of the way in the game only known to them. Dan didn't have any real interest in being a pawn so he sabotaged them every so often so that he didn't become collateral damage. It was only at Eleanor's dinner that he realized that all was not right with Blair. He noticed Blair standing by herself. She seemed distraught, probably over something Chuck had done.

At the time, Dan had no idea what that something was. Now that he knew that Chuck had traded her for a hotel, he felt sick to his gut. This wasn't even lover's betrayal, it ran something so much deeper than that—Chuck was equal parts sadism and venality and for that, Blair would always suffer with him. Even though Dan gently told her that she wasn't "all terrible," he thought he had done his job he reassured her that no two people belonged together more than she and Chuck. Blair and Chuck, Chuck and Blair, cut from the same cloth. At least he thought that was true. Dan wished that he could have shut his stupid mouth. He was so wrong about Blair.

Now, he knew better. Blair was better than Chuck. Blair was all the ambition and arrogance that drove Chuck to try to run a billion dollar company blindly at the age of 20, but she was so much more. Her love and loyalty ran unmovable and rooted like an ancient tree for her family and friends. Even for someone like Chuck, who debased her and used her, her love didn't stop. The courage of her conviction kept her going. He saw her strength but he knew that sometimes, she was so very tired of being the one that held on, the one that supported her world and the mess of people underneath her shoulders. Maybe he could help. He had been helping, hadn't he?

Why did she love that bastard? Dan turned onto Park Avenue and his legs started taking him uptown. When did it start mattering to him that Blair seemed to love Chuck with her infinite supply of patience and caring? Chuck certainly didn't deserve it. To trade the woman he loved for the legacy of his father. Dan didn't even want to get into the Freudian implications. He looked up and realized that he was standing directly in front of Blair's penthouse.

He thought about what to do. Could he stride up the staircase and demand why she loved Chuck? No, that didn't make sense. Why did he want to know about Blair's feelings for her ex? He shoved a hand deep inside his pant pocket and rocked on his heels. He imagined himself going up the staircase and as the elevator door opened, she might be there, standing in her silk robe. She might frown and ask what he was doing in her penthouse in the middle of the night and his mouth would go dry.

He would unload the thoughts that were whipping around his mind. The same thought over and over again. What if his father and Dorota were right. How could he, Dan Humphrey, borough boy, be infatuated with the ultimate Park Avenue princess? Four years ago, the thought would have made him recoil—but now, four years later, he wanted to know the answer. He would talk it out with Blair, his friend, and it would all make sense again.

He would walk to her, giving her no room for retreat and inhale the sweet air that always hung around her, and his hand would reach out, confirm her closeness before he would speak. He needed to choose his words carefully—this was Blair Waldorf, the girl denied their friendship even as she was running to his door for the last few months. But, did she really deny him? Even though she didn't want to admit their friendship in public, Blair determination to see him under the guise of mutual interest in films and art made him chuckle. Her plans were often Blair-bizarrely complicated schemes where he had to duck behind hot dog vendors until she decided the clearing was safe. As soon as she relaxed though, what gold Daniel found.

Was he actually going to walk through those doors and ask Blair Waldorf for a kiss? This was beyond preposterous when he began to think about it out of context. Blair was in love with Chuck. His heart was trampled flat by Serena—maybe he just needed to feel something again. It was different though, with Blair. He had no illusions about her conniving nature, he knew that she would do whatever it took to stay on top, but he knew that once she drew the protection of her friendship around someone, they would never feel the winter without her. He was still deep in thought when the elevator door opened. He saw her rounding the staircase softly.

"What are you doing here?" She hadn't changed out of the party dress as he had expected. Instead of being annoyed as he thought she would be, her beautiful face was soft and inquiring. Maybe he could do this.

"I don't know. Is Serena here?" The last thing Dan wanted was to be reminded of his ex when he only wanted to know what the girl in front of him was thinking.

"No." Her heart shrank back. Was he here to see Serena again? How did he already know about Ben? Blair had been thinking about Dan. Right before she exited the party, her eyes lingered on him when she told him that the world wasn't ready for their friendship—and the illogical parts of her cried for him to ignore what she was saying for the good of their friends and family. Instead, he looked saddened but understanding. Why did Dan always have to understand?

She had paced around her bedroom, replaying their last few weeks together. Right before she left with Humphrey to Connecticut, she was still soaked through with desire for Chuck. She had told him that they both needed time to grow, but Serena's accident pushed Chuck back into her life. And when Chuck was back in her life, Blair ached for the missing pieces of herself that he took with her. Humphrey had distracted her. At least she thought so. Somehow, that curly mop of hair began to signify different things to her. Her heart would lift as soon as he stepped into her view—she didn't know when she started to feel the lightness in her step when he was verbally jousting with her, but she felt like she couldn't go a day without talking to him. He was always so sane, able to talk her down from the highest points of agitation, and he did it all without manipulations. He was a student of truth and honesty and never sugarcoated his cutting wit or high moral ground. His easy smile and sense of humor was keeping her afloat these days.

"What's going on? Is everything ok?" Blair softened her voice, maybe it had nothing to do with Dan and Serena 4 Ever. She hoped that it was just Lilly's situation that brought him to her, she couldn't handle dealing with a lovesick Dan, pining after the one woman that would always be her best friend and her worst enemy.

"I've been walking around the city all night with one all consuming, paralyzing thought." He took his hand out of his pocket and walked closer to her.

"Why am I walking around the city when I live in Brooklyn?" Blair jokingly lifted her eyebrows.

"What if my dad and Dorota were right, what if it was another reason we're keeping us a secret?"

"Another reason like what?" Blair felt rooted to where she was standing; all the air seemed to have left the room.

"Plausible deniability, Blair? We kept us a secret because we were afraid that there was something more." He kept walking closer to her and was only an arm's length away. She didn't recognize this Dan Humphrey, not her friend who was jovial and funny, but one who had a hard gaze that didn't flinch from her face. He wanted something and Blair was deathly afraid to give in to him.

"You need to go back to Brooklyn." She said weakly.

"Not until I know, for sure, that they were wrong—that there is nothing between us." He came to a standstill in front of her.

"I can guarantee it." Her answer came out quick and evasive.

Dan didn't seem to be listening to her. Instead, his eyes left her face and followed his left hand as it seemed to reach for her shoulder with its own accord. He seemed mesmerized by the skin there, and while he was hesitant, his thumb rubbed her skin and pushed the straps of her dress back, keeping her intact. While her dress was intact, Blair certainly wasn't.

Her eyes closed for a brief second when his hand made contact with her skin and when she opened them again, she followed the motions of his hand. They both looked down at his hand on her shoulder. His skin felt hot and dry on top of her shoulder and she glanced back at him, completely unsure.

"But, just so that you're secure in that knowledge, what did you have in mind?" He was still holding on her to her arm as she tried to respond coherently.

"Just one kiss, then we can know without a doubt."

Blair's eyes searched his brown eyes, which were now burning with heat that she had never seen before. Could she have missed it during all these months? His face was less than a foot away and she started to notice details about him, the shape of his jaw, the slight five o'clock shadow that was starting to appear along his face giving him a slightly roguish air. His eyes though, she couldn't tear herself away from them. She didn't want to ever stop feeling the way that she felt now when he looked at her, burning bright and deep.

"I suppose that would work. One kiss and that's that." Blair felt that someone else had spoken those words for her. Her voice was so soft that Dan barely heard her.

"One kiss and that's that."

He broke off the eye contact first. He had a moment of shock that he concealed beautifully but couldn't while looking in her eyes. Her face was so expectant. Who was this Blair, standing in front of him, agreeing to his proposal? He had replayed this scene over and over again, but he never prepared for Blair if she said yes.

"So?"

"So." She tried to shrug nonchalantly. Her mouth was already beginning to feel dry and she nervously cleared her throat, her eyes still searching his face and gave him a small smile.

He let out a deep breath and she saw his eyes drift towards her lips, which had parted slightly in anticipation, and in the agonizing eight seconds that he was still readying his courage, she couldn't wait anymore.

"Oh, for crying out loud Humphrey." Blair grabbed his collar and pulled him towards her. He landed on her lips, jolting at the first contact, but then his arms wrapped around her slender waist, drawing her towards his body. God, she was everything he had been thinking about but didn't admit to needing. Her lips were soft and pliable under his mouth and she tasted so sweet. How a person could taste sweet, he would never know. He almost groaned into her mouth as she moved in even closer, trying to push their bodies together as she wrapped her arms around his neck. The feel of her against him was all softness and there was no way he would ever let her go, now or for eternity. Suddenly, the gentle way their lips moved against each other wasn't enough, he wanted more. His hand moved up from her waist to cup the back of her head, and he gently parted her lips with his tongue.

Blair was helpless. None of her kisses with anyone else tasted, felt, or started the slow burn of her desire like this. What she thought was going to a small spark was then hit with a giant dose of gasoline. With Nate, he had been easy and playful—she felt like they were romping whenever they made out. With Chuck, she always felt that it was so wrong that it was right. But Dan felt right, so right. His tongue in her mouth tasted rich and exotic, like a good chocolate, and his hands on her body were so warm, she felt the vise like gripe of his arms and then didn't understand why she had never tried this until now. He was exploring her mouth now and she moved her hands from his neck to tangle her fingers in his curly brown hair. What did he smell like? Some sort of woodsy handmade Brooklyn soap and scotch—whatever it was, she was becoming drunk on it. She deepened the kiss and pressed herself even closer to him. His clothing began to feel rough on her skin, she didn't want his shirt to rub against her chest, she wanted to feel his brown chest hair rubbing roughly against her breasts.

"Sweet, " he whispered. "and so soft."

His lips began to move toward towards her jaw. He planted soft kisses down to her neck and dipped her backwards as he began to nuzzle the hollow at the base of her throat. She was so giddy now and her head was swimming. She bent forward to grab Dan's head and push him into her bosom. She wanted to feel his hot mouth at her nipples, his teeth gently tugging at them.

With a dexterity that eluded him when he was clumsily holding her shoulder, he swept his arms under her knees and lift her up, Scarlett O'Hara style, and held her even closer. When Blair's feet left the ground, she felt like he was the only solid thing in this dizzy swaying world. She couldn't stop looking at his lower lip, so full and sensual. When his tongue licked his lips as he looked at her, she couldn't help but laugh.

"Humphrey, I'm not an ice cream cone."

"No, you're definitely better than ice cream."

With renewed urgency, he crushed his mouth against hers with the swift gradation of intensity that made her shake in his arms. What was happening? Was there an earthquake nearby? Blair Waldorf couldn't have just been swept off her feet by Dan Humphrey. How did he have it in him to be so intensely romantic and sensual? She knew him for his brain, but she should have known that such an active mind would create some interesting scenarios.

He carried her to the couch and gently laid her across the width while he relaxed his body against hers. He stopped for a second and brushed his knuckles across her cheek in the low light. They were sandwiched on the couch, thigh against thigh, legs tangled together and he rested on his elbow while he took her in.

"Blair. I think I have feelings for you."

"Nice detective work there, Humphrey. I think Watson's looking for a new boss." She cracked, breaking the tension. Their desires thickened the air and she desperately needed to breathe.

"Waldorf, you say such intriguing things." His finger traced the outline of her lips. "You do have the most beautiful mouth." He paused. "But there always something so unpleasant coming out of them."

She laughed and began pushing him away with her hand at his shoulder. Dan grinned back at her. "No way you're getting out of this one, Waldorf" and he quickly covered her giggling mouth with his own.

Blair remembered one episode of Sex and the City when Carrie kept whining about having the weight of a man on her—and in this moment; she understood exactly what that shopaholic was saying. Dan's weight felt so good, solid, real, and unmovable. Other women or real estate would not easily sway him—because when Dan Humphrey was present, he was present in his body and soul. She slide one leg up around his hips so that he fit neatly in between her thighs and felt his hardness pressing against her. Dan's erection. She hadn't even thought about Dan's erection and while it didn't surprise her, she was fascinated by the size.

Suddenly, the elevator dinged the arrival of the visitors. Blair sat up in alarm and pushed Dan off the couch.

-x-x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x

Heh, what can I say. I love a good cliff hanger. Please let me know what you think. Reviews help me think :P


	15. I think Wharton Would Side With Me

Previous in Chapter 13: Blair and Dan kiss. Dan confesses that he has feelings. Blair pushes him away.

_Dan's weight felt so good, solid, real, and unmovable. Other women or real estate would not easily sway him—because when Dan Humphrey was present, he was present in his body and soul. She slide one leg up around his hips so that he fit neatly in between her thighs and felt his hardness pressing against her. Dan's erection. She hadn't even thought about Dan's erection and while it didn't surprise her, she was fascinated by the size. _

_Suddenly, the elevator dinged the arrival of the visitors. Blair sat up in alarm and pushed Dan off the couch. _

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Dan, put your jacket back on!"

Dan felt the whiplash as he was thrown from the couch to the floor. Like he said, Blair was freakishly strong for her small body. Maybe Blair Waldorf was a secret jiu-jitsu champion in her spare time. It wouldn't surprise him.

He sat on the floor, blinking in confusion when Blair quickly started rearranging her dress, smoothing it over her lap since his busy hands had hiked her skirt well over the decency limit. He saw his jacket crumpled next to the couch and shrugged it on. Blair looked at the mirror that faced the couch and knew in an instant that no matter how much they tried to straighten their clothing, their faces said it all. Her eyes were shining and her mouth looked bruised, there were light scratches all over her neck from Dan's beard. She immediately threw on the dimmer in the room, it would at least help, if not disguise totally their make out session. She looked over at Humphrey, who placed himself next to her on the couch, but still looked completely disheveled.

"Humphrey. Your shirt!"

Dan looked down at his shirt, there were at least three buttons open from the top, very much Blair's handiwork, but the look she was giving him now was deathly not horny.

The elevator finally groaned open to Serena and Chuck. After all, this night was all about Serena and Chuck. Blair took a deep breath and steadied herself.

Chuck burst through the hallway and immediately saw two figures sitting on the couch. Maybe it was the fourth glass of scotch he had downed at the Empire, but it couldn't be Humphrey sitting next to Blair? He stalked over to the two of them, only vaguely aware of the tugging motion on his arm by Serena.

"What is HE doing here?"

"Chuck. Dan is here to….to discuss what how we can help Serena." She glanced meaningfully at Serena.

"Well, aren't you the nice one, Dan." Chuck was slurring his words but managed to grab onto Blair's arm in the process. "Blair. I have to tell you something."

"Ok. Chuck. Let's go to my room." Blair grabbed Chuck flailing arm and hauled him to the staircase. Dan was still sitting on the couch, his eyes never leaving her face as she walked away. Halfway up the staircase, she looked back down to see Chuck's progress and she caught Dan's face in the same motion. His eyes had the same heat as when he was adjusting the straps of her Dior dress; she jerked her gaze away. No matter how good it felt or how right it seemed, she and Dan could never be. It was about Brooklyn or UES anymore. It was about the fact that Blair saw Serena, sitting next to Dan, desperately searching his face for comfort and respite that he wasn't giving her because his focus was on her, Blair. She winced as she turned her head back towards Chuck, his eyes two black holes of regret and guilt. This is was her fate. This is who she had to fix.

"Dan. Were you really here with Blair to help me?" Serena tentatively touched her ex boyfriend's arm.

"What?" He finally tore his attention away from Blair's disappearing figure and turned back to Serena's misty sea-green eyes. "Um. Yes. Blair and I were just thinking of ways we could rally our resources now that Lilly is confessing to the D.A."

"You're amazing Dan. You and Blair hate each other….but you were able to put that aside for me?"

"No. We don't hate each other." He looked back towards the empty staircase before glancing at Serena.

There was so much pain and uncertainty in her face—she wasn't the carefree golden girl he knew when he was fifteen. Serena had been drugged, left for dead, and now her mother was being indicted for a perjury, no small crime even for the craftiest lawyer. Her beautiful face was trembling and more out of habit than thought, Dan reached and caressed her cheek. He smoothed away the tears that were beginning to trail down her face and slung his arms around her, pulled her into his deep chest and kissed the top of her head. With huge shuddering sobs, Serena began to cry into Dan's shirt. She was so fragile right now. He knew that despite all the antagonism that his step-mother and Serena had been through in the past year, Serena still couldn't control the deep well of uncertainty and fear around the unity of her family. Serena was deathly afraid of life without her mother—there were so many things that could go wrong. This incident could trigger Eric's depression (the last time Eric was depressed, it was almost fatal), her mother's sickness from last year could return, Serena began to see her small family's vulnerabilities in stark relief and she gasped for breath within Dan's shirt. He smelled so good. As he always did. He was so solid, warm, and wonderful. Serena gripped his shirt and looked at him through her tear-soaked eyes. She just hoped that in the last two months with Ben, she hadn't pushed away the one man that was always there, the one man that understood and stood like a lighthouse in her terrifying world. She loved him. She knew it now. That she, Serena van der Woodsen, was only running from the person that she loved more than anything because she didn't know if she deserved him. Now, it didn't matter because she needed him, and she knew that Dan would never deny her.

"Serena. I am always here for you. I've said it before." He smiled crookedly down at her.

"Ben. Ben left." She choked out.

His mouth pinched unpleasantly. "Then, Ben wasn't worth his salt." Dan smoothed the tangled blond locks and rubbed the back of her neck soothingly. "Whatever it is that happens, we're a family. And it's awfully hard to get rid of a Humphrey once we're used to you." He murmured into her hair. "But right now, I'm not sure how much we can do. Lilly is still at the DA; my dad is with her. I think we both need a good night's rest and when tomorrow comes, we can regroup. Maybe with waffles." He was getting up from the couch. Serena felt him leaving and couldn't help herself.

"Please Dan. Please, just stay with me for tonight."

"Serena. I don't know. You really need to sleep. I'm really tired." He finished lamely.

"Dan. I know. I know that I've hurt you terribly. Making Ben move into the loft must have been horrifying to you. I know. But I thought I was doing the right thing. And you must still hate—"

"I don't hate you."

"Why won't spend the night?"

Dan looked defeated. Serena still had her hand on his arm, her fingers scrunched the fabric of his jacket into small clumps and her eyes luminous with tears. He didn't want to do this. He didn't want to stay in Serena's bedroom, one shared bathroom away from Blair's bedroom, where she was comforting Chuck right now. He didn't want to think about ChuckandBlair, BlairandChuck, because only fifteen minutes ago, it had been Humphrey-and-Waldorf in the most exhilarating fashion. He mutely nodded.

Blair had Chuck's head in her lap; she stroked his hair listlessly. Chuck had fallen asleep after he told her the whole sordid affair between Russell and Bart Bass. She couldn't believe it. Bart Bass had inadvertently killed Reina's mother in a hotel fire, setting in motion Russell's blood lust for Bass Industries and the destruction of the only connection Chuck had to Bart. Puzzle pieces were falling into place but as much as Blair wanted to rush in and right everything again, she felt so far away from the man that was in her bedroom. Even as he gently snored into the fabric of her dress, her mind was working at a million miles a minute, and none of it had to do with Chuck and Russell. She was thinking about the kiss. Blair heard voices murmuring in Serena's room and her heart immediately sank. She had wanted to Dan to help Serena; how could she not? Serena was her dearest friend and now she was with the only person that always believed and loved her with his undying persistence. Blair stopped running her hands through Chuck's hair. She closed her eyes and rebuilt the walls, she placed a moratorium on the unexpected bliss of kissing Humphrey. It was obvious now that he still had unfinished business with Serena. Blair carefully turned this thought over in her head. It had happened again. As sure as the sun would rise, Serena would always win this round; men would always choose her. Blair couldn't help but think that one of the reasons that she loved Chuck so much was because Chuck never loved and could never love Serena. Blair was always number one to him.

The bathroom door from Serena's room creaked slightly and she heard a gentle knocking at her door. Blair pushed Chuck onto the bed; in his state, he didn't noticed the movement and slurred something about Reina before collapsing back onto the duvet. She hesitated when she went to the doorknob and stepped into the bathroom.

Dan was sitting on the edge of the tub, his head resting on his clasped fingers. He jolted up as soon as he saw Blair step around and quietly close the door. This was quite a different motion from this morning, as she was cheerfully hiding him in Serena's room. This morning, they were in their carefree bubble, their only concerns about the artistic integrity of post-Weimar Germany. Now, the air was laden with unspoken words.

"Blair, I—"

"Humphrey. That was a failed experiment."

He looked at her incredulously. Her denial was bordering on ridiculous. After all, she had kissed him. It was his idea, but it was her, Blair Waldorf who grabbed him by the collar and pushed her effortlessly lithe and soft body onto his. He wasn't stupid.

"Blair. I know why you're doing this. It's because of Serena."

"No. That's not it." She examined her fingernails studiously.

"Then tell me what it is?" Dan's voice had hardened. He had a suspicion; if it wasn't Serena, then it was Chuck—the lump of trouble that was currently sleeping in her bedroom.

"I didn't feel anything." Blair's voice had an edge to it now. Her eyes blazed with pride as she stood, arms crossed.

"Bullshit."

"Humphrey, this is no time for common language."

"Fine, Countess Olenska." He clenched and unclenched his fist. Blair barely noticed the way his hands were shoved deep in his jacket pocket, straining against fabric.

"I think you're literarily fucked up." Her eyes lit up slightly, she remembered the play at Constance; Daniel as Newland, she as Olenska. "I'm much more May than Countess. Serena's your Countess."

"I think you're wrong." He quickly breached the distance between them so that she had to lift her eyes to look at him. Dan didn't bother to disguise the intensity in his eyes, he just wanted to wrench her out of her Ice Queen mask.

"I think Wharton would side with me."

"Then what did you feel?"

"It felt like kissing Cyrus. I'm sorry if I gave you a wrong impression."

"Then why did you do it?"

"I don't know Dan. Maybe, because I like slumming it every once in a while." She knew the words in her arsenal that would hurt the most. Serena's trembling face kept rushing through her brain. Serena, Lilly, Eric, and Chuck were the insurmountable obstacles. But were they even really obstacles to something that never existed until Dan proposed their "just one kiss" pact? She felt cold fear in the pit of her stomach. She could not, would not lose Serena. Not for anyone. What she and Dan had were a few moments of illicit passion, nothing to lose sleep over. Dan had shown, more than he said, that he wasn't over Serena. She was surprised though, when Humphrey didn't even flinch at her insult. Maybe he was getting better at building armor; god knows that she's giving him enough practice.

"Slumming it doesn't exactly describe what we were doing Blair." He clenched his jaw and barely edged out his words.

"Humphrey. I don't care what you think. I have to go. Serena needs you and Chuck needs me."

"This conversation isn't over."

"Dan." She sighed, "It has to be."

"No. I don't care how long it takes, I don't care of Chuck Bass throws the Empire on my loft. I'm going to be here. And I'm going to be waiting for you." Dan grabbed her hand and squeezed it forcefully.

Blair bit the bottom of her lip until she felt the sharp stab of pain. "Then, you'll be waiting forever." She felt the weight of the entire conversation in her chest. Well, that didn't resolve anything. Dan had told her that he had feelings for her on that infamous couch and now he wasn't even gentleman enough to take those feelings back. How dare he, Serena was his true love. He just didn't know it. Blair, well, she was done with Chuck.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Yeah, it's all pure speculation from this point. I had to break them up; there's no way Blair could ever make things easy :D. But fear not dear readers, they will continue to have a relationship; they just have a long hard road ahead of them. Please review!


	16. An Affair to Remember

A/N. I stopped for a while because I wasn't sure which direction to take the story. There's some retconning this chapter, but I decided to follow the show again—with of course, additional DB goodies.

"_This conversation isn't over."_

"_Dan." She sighed, "It has to be."_

"_No. I don't care how long it takes, I don't care of Chuck Bass throws the Empire on my loft. I'm going to be here. And I'm going to be waiting for you." Dan grabbed her hand and squeezed it forcefully. _

_Blair bit the bottom of her lip until she felt the sharp stab of pain. "Then, you'll be waiting forever." She felt the weight of the entire conversation in her chest. Well, that didn't resolve anything. Dan had told her that he had feelings for her on that infamous couch and now he wasn't even gentleman enough to take those feelings back. How dare he, Serena was his true love. He just didn't know it. Blair, well, she was done with Chuck. _

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

One week later, Dan thought that the cone of silence was killing him softly if he were being melodramatic. After another restless night, Dan was pacing the floor of kitchen, phone in hand, trying not to call Blair's phone number. She had said that their conversation was over—had it been the Blair he knew from last year, he would have gracefully stepped out of the way and retreated to his former non-existence in her world. But it wasn't. This was months later, schemes later, many late-night conversations together later. Blair couldn't hide from him the way that she used to hide from everyone.

Two months ago, after that disastrous Valentine's Day, he had gotten to text from her the next day. All it said was, "Angelika, 8:30" and he had to haul tail from Brooklyn to Soho in about 30 minutes or he would miss her.

In February, it was still freezing in New York. He took a sharp intake of breath and the cold air cut into his throat. It wasn't hard to find Blair, even in a serious movie crowd on a Saturday. She stood alone, poised but on the verge of unbalance as she shifted her weight back and forth. Her eyes were scanning the shuffling masses of people in the ticket line and as soon as she saw him from the other side of the street, Blair gave him a steady wave. He couldn't quite explain it but the sight of Blair looking for him was so satisfying. Of course, he quickly ran around the traffic since he was the one that was late already.

"What are we seeing?" He looked at her curiously.

"Hello to you too, Humphrey." She smiled tightly and held out a ticket.

"I was settling in to Kieślowski Three Colors marathon, you better have a good reason to keep me from Juliette Binoche and Julie Delphy."

"That would be your idea of a threesome." She snickered. "And don't even try to imply that Binoche or Delpy are better than my company."

"I don't think I implied." He was trying to tease her, there seemed to be dark cloud over her brows in her half-hearted jokes.

"You don't have to stay."

"But I came anyway." He saw a tiny quiver of a smile on her face. She knew that he would come; without an ounce of doubt in her body.

"Fine, then stay."

He followed her into the dark rows of seats and she plopped down uncharacteristically in the middle of the row. She didn't bother looking in his direction during the entire first half of the movie. Dan assumed that Cary Grant held most women's attention and rendered other men obsolete; even if Cary was just projected image. Just as Deborah Kerr was racing to the Empire building, he heard a strange sound from beside him. It was a half-strangled gasp that came from deep with the slight frame of Blair Waldorf. Her hands were clasped tightly in her lap and he looked on at her, slightly shell-shocked that she was basically crying her heart out as Cary Grant kept waiting at the top of the Empire. Dan wrapped his arm around her and grabbed her other hand. It was instinctive. Dan hated crying women; only in the sense that he felt so helpless when he didn't know what was wrong. Surprisingly, she didn't resist him at all. He felt her sink into his shoulder and bury her wet face into his neck. Her sobs were staccatoed with short hiccups that made him smile; even Blair couldn't be perfect all the time. He gently rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb and wishing that he could say something in the dark that would ease whatever it was that was hurting her.

She was a mess. Blair ran into the bathroom as soon as the lights went up and looked in the mirror. Her makeup was completely ruined, mascara ran in black streaks down her face and her nose was bright red and snotty. She looked down at the sink, turned the hot water on, and began frantically scrubbing her face, leaving a swirl of dark makeup down the drain. She glanced back at the mirror. What was she thinking when she decided to see An _Affair to Remember_? It was the worst possible movie to see after that horrible night of Valentine's Day. The image of Reina and Chuck, the words that Chuck spoke to Reina, they still burned in her mind. She must be a glutton for punishment.

She didn't know why. Maybe she did. She felt compelled to relive that horrible day when she and Chuck fell apart. She remembered her frantic run to the Empire building, only she wasn't crushed by an oncoming car, she was crushed by fate, by a terribly flawed love that slept with Dan's sister because he didn't know that Blair was late. Deborah Kerr life was forever changed that day. And maybe Blair's life was too. When Chuck promised that two people who love each other always find their way back, she had believed him because she needed to. No one had hurt her as much as Chuck had and no one could repair the damage he had done to her, except Chuck of course. Blair wasn't aware of the moment when the last of her defense shut down and her quiet sobbing became uncontrollable. All she knew was that Dan had somehow maneuvered himself to be this calm force around her. Just as he had stood between that terrible scene at Valentine's day and her, she felt buffered from the harshness of Chuck's betrayal that was playing out in an infinitely better universe of Grant and Kerr. She felt somewhat anchored to the crook of his neck in that theater, the steady breaths and rise and fall of his chest was lulling her into calm. He didn't bother with words because all good writers know when words were inadequate. Dan had only held her, reassuringly without intentions, like he had done for so many of the women in his life. Only this time, Blair was grateful to the bone that it was only Dan who saw her like this.

When she finally stepped out of the bathroom, she saw his broad flannelled back, and wrinkled her nose at the warm fuzzy fabric that he insisted on wearing; even if that particular flannel had provided a warm harbor for her in the theater, it didn't mean that she had to like its appearance. He was standing with his arms crossed under his folded coat, legs planted apart like a superhero, and looking at a poster of the _500 Days of Summer_.

"I always found Zooey to be insufferable."

"What?" He turned around and looked at her.

"Zooey is an archetypal manic pixie dream girl, especially for someone like you. I mean, Tom doesn't even really know her. He just thinks he knows her because she was his dream girl."

"Well, Tom was in love with her."

"How could you buy into that? Tom was just in love with the idea of her."

"It's hard for us to let go of what we think we know as love." His voice was steady and calm as he looked at her. Her face was dry now, and her eyes were no longer watery. She gave him a tight smile.

"Yeah, I guess that's true." She feigned a glance at her cell phone and made a face of horror. "I have to go!" She whirled around quickly and hailed a cab. The way that Dan looked at her was becoming quickly uncomfortable. And she knew that their conversation wasn't just about the Joseph Gordon Levitt movie.

That had been two months ago, two months before their social experiment in the foyer of Blair's penthouse. Dan looked at his phone again, no messages, and started rearranging the books on his shelves.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Blair was ecstatic. Her dream romance from the summer was actually coming true. Spending the afternoon with Prince Louis at Veselka might have been a little less than ideal, but she didn't know any other places that would be as hidden from publicity than the perogi shop that Dan seemed obsessed with. Dan had seemed a little upset at seeing her in _his_ restaurant, but she brushed that thought aside. The prince had been exactly as she remembered: gorgeous, cultured, interesting, and dazzlingly royal. Her brain was completely awash in euphoria, she couldn't believe that her romantic gesture at the Musée d'Orsay was being taken seriously! Louis must be a true romantic to return her gesture. What was it about European men that made them so much more sensitive to the needs of a woman?

She sighed contently as she walked around the Paul Smith store. Dan hadn't gotten there yet. She was meeting him because first, she had to give him a good tongue-lashing and secondly, she was going to enlist his help in making her fairytale come true. After all, girls didn't become princesses for lack of trying. She was glad that Dan was acting like a friend again. There was a week of uncomfortable silence between the two of them, and she missed his banter and friendship.

All the gorgeous fabric at Paul Smith reminded her of Chuck. She would never have to do any tie shopping for Chuck; he had other women to do his shopping and he had impeccable taste. She knew though, that her Brooklyn pauper wouldn't even know the difference between pink and salmon. Thinking of Chuck made her cringe a little. The whole incident from the Modern Royalty photo shoot a weeks ago still stun. Chuck still had his childish gripes about Dan and his behavior was bordering on the same sort of pathology she used to relish at Constance. But Constance was ages ago, Blair Waldorf was moving on, with royalty no less. Chuck's attempted Dan humiliation just made her madder. As she turned away from Chuck, she felt only faint traces of the deep love that used to fill her whenever she thought about him.

Dan though, she was impressed by way he kept it together in front of Chuck. She half expected another annual Dan punches Chuck moment. She didn't admit it, but sometimes it was incredibly satisfying to see Dan being physical. Instead of the assertive anger she had seen the bathroom of her penthouse, when she said in front of Chuck that her kiss meant nothing with Dan, he seemed to have swallowed his pride and stepped aside gracefully. He had even told her that her prince was out there. Blair smile to herself, even Dan couldn't have known that she actually had a constitutional monarch in the wings. To be fair though, she thought to herself, she knew that Dan's temporary crush would lead nowhere. Did he even see Serena at the Modern Royalty shoot? She looked every bit the Anita Ekberg to Dan's Marcello Mastroianni. She felt a twinge of sadness, there would always been only one woman in Dan's life, no matter how he felt about anyone else.

"Blair, I swear, I had no idea. Some magazine out of the blue, called to hire me to write an article about your prince." Dan was a little mystified that Blair seemed to be picking out ties. He was just hoping that a sincere apology and some backtracking would do him some favors. "And I backed out the minute I knew he was with you."

"Oh, you should have been suspicious from the minute someone wanted to pay you for your writing." She sniped, but in teasing way. Dan groaned slightly, but laughed anyways. She had such a disarming way about her, even as she was insulting him to his face.

"That wasn't an editor." Blair thoughtfully picked up the grey-pink plaid tie for further consideration. "That was one of Louis's royal handlers. And your desperate need for literary validation cost me the greatest date of my life." She made her voice heavy with disappointment, knowing that her greatest asset was Humphrey's guilt, she could make him do anything if he felt that he had done her wrong. After all, he gave up his internship at W, now he had given up his Paris Match job already. What's another favor on top, Blair smiled to herself.

"Well, I'm sorry." His deep voice rang in her ears and she knew she had him.

"I know you are." She turned around and gave him a dazzling smile. "And that is why I'm giving you the opportunity to make this right. Louis told his handler Lucien, that he came to New York for a charity event tonight. And Lucien doesn't believe him." Blair held up her top three tie options under Dan's chin. Brooklyn, he was so handsome if someone would only take care of his sartorial decisions. Thank god she was taking the initiative. She couldn't bear to see Dan in anymore of Vanessa's ugly gifts. "So when he comes to pick him up from the party to take him to the airport, we are going to convince him that Louis is a casual summer acquaintance and you and I are madly in love." Blair made a wildly romantic face that even Dan had to admire. She was so gorgeous was she was happy. And he swallowed his hesitance.

"Why would he believe that?"

"We are going to stage a private intimate moment for Lucien to stumble upon, and when he realizes that Louis was telling the truth and that there's nothing to worry about." Her plan was flawless. Blair blinked for a second though, when she considered that she was making plans to kiss Humphrey, again. But what issues could come up? They had already kissed once and moved on. She reassured herself that this time would be no less complicated. "He'll back to Paris, leaving Louis behind, for me."

"No way."

"I thought you were my friend." His refusal surprised her and she frowned.

"I am. Which is why I'm going to point out to you what a bad idea this is. For starters, Serena's going to be at this party."

"She's staying with Lily tonight." Smiling triumphantly, Blair had the soft-paisley tie that won her favor and considered the texture against Dan's chiseled jaw line.

"Fine." He glanced down at the tie that Blair was using to tickle his face. "Then everyone else in the world is going to be at this party. We'd have to tell Serena about this plan."

"Absolutely not." Ugh, what was it about Dan that made him tell truth like it was competitive sport? Blair was so close to her prize and she, frankly, didn't want to think about Serena's reaction in any meaningful way. Besides, no one had to know. That was the whole point of the scheme. Blair wanted to get through the Pink party with as few casualties as possible. "You and I faking a kiss? Do you really want to have that conversation with Serena?"

"Can't be half as painful as this one." Dan sucked in his lower lip uncomfortably.

"Ugh. Think ahead Humphrey." Sometimes, Blair thought ,she had to do the thinking for the both of them when it came to the Upper East side. Years on the UES hadn't changed Dan's nature at all. He was still honest, earnest and decent. But none of those qualities were helping her! "What if Serena tells Chuck. Who, though, up til now, quiet about our misbegotten makeout, decides to speak up in the face of this latest insult?"

"When you bring Chuck into it, you're far more convincing." He grimaced. Blair did have a point. Who knows what Chuck was capable of. Even though they were distantly related now, Chuck being his stepmother's stepson, Dan made it a point to steer clear. "Ok, fine. You're paying for the tie."

His eyes drift towards Blair as she headed towards the cash register. He wanted her happy, but helping her with this Prince might even more painful in practice than in theory. He was not looking forward to the party tonight.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Thanks for reading. Help me get to 100 reviews kiddos, it will help me write. I'm planning to use both plot lines in my head as well as the actual TV show. Let me know what you want to see in the story. Perspective, it's all about perspective.


	17. Kissing Charade

Previously in Chapter 16 – Blair enlist Dan's help to convince Prince Louis' handler that they are madly in love via make out scheme. I see what you did there, Blair.

"_When you bring Chuck into it, you're far more convincing." He grimaced. Blair did have a point. Who knows what Chuck was capable of. Even though they were distantly related now, Chuck being his stepmother's stepson, Dan made it a point to steer clear. "Ok, fine. You're paying for the tie." _

_His eyes drift towards Blair as she headed towards the cash register. He wanted her happy, but helping her with this Prince might even more painful in practice than in theory. He was not looking forward to the party tonight. _

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A sea of pink, wall to wall, and Blair Waldorf was in the middle of it all. Thankfully, she had chosen a careful shade of blush that accentuated her complexion instead of the abysmal shade of Pepto-Bismol that certain socialites were sporting around her. It was a fundraiser for Cancer for chrissake, not blindness. Her heart was beating a little too quickly for her comfort level—and immediately prompted her to think about what was at stake. If Louis's family disapproved of her—the notion that anyone on the planet thought of her as common was as preposterous to Blair as the idea of her buying something on sale—then they would surely do anything to keep Louis from her. She grumbled a little to herself, after all, didn't Consuela Vanderbilt lay the ground work for this already? Did she really have to retread this whole American heiress versus broke as a bell European royalty dynamic again? She already had more than a passing interest in of _Downton Abbey_. While her minion, Penelope, attempted her version of the 3rd degree, Blair's eyes glazed over, all she wanted to do was keep calm, kiss Dan, and escape with her prince intact.

"Maybe Serena knows who Blair's secret boyfriend is?" Penelope's sequined number was a true horror. As Blair turned around, Serena tilted her head, and then there was that atrocity of a cousin, Charlie, standing like a mini-Serena next to her best friend.

"No, but the curiosity is killing me." Serena held her gaze.

"Ok. I'll tell you." Blair smiled broadly but waved off her two minions. "Not you. Scatter. Twenty paces minimum. No overhears." She was brimming with excitement now, "I can't wait to see the look on their faces when they find out it's the prince. You are not to breath a word of this," Blair looked pointedly at Charlie. "Normally you'd have to sign a non-disclosure agreement, but I'm grandfathering you in because of Serena."

"That him? Right over there?" Charlie's used her clutch and waved at Louis. "Don't understand why you guys are ignoring each other?"

"That's because you're from Florida." Already, Blair didn't like this girl, even if she had Rhodes blood. Just then, as if on cue, the elevator of the penthouse dinged the arrival of a new guest.

"Oh hey, it's Dan." Serena's smile froze on her face as she tried to assess Blair's reaction. The entire afternoon with Charlie made her feel like the two most important friendships in her life were nothing but smoke and mirrors. First, there was the discovery at Veselka where Serena was assuaged that Blair was actually seeing the prince. By then though, the seeds of suspicions had rooted themselves in her brain. When Charlie sent the picture of Dan and Blair at Paul Smith, Serena's felt a flicker of anger. Two of her closest friends were having some type of secret rendezvous, and even though Serena was not jealous, not in the least, she didn't understand why anyone would hide a relationship unless it involved down and dirty sex? On some level though, Serena knew that nothing untoward was happening between Dan and Blair because she knew Dan very well. As the on again, off again love of his life, Serena thought that she knew all the signs of Humphrey-In-Love. Dan was an emotional guy, honest and forthright with his feelings, so it was a cold-water shock to Serena that she had somehow missed the all signs. With Blair, Serena tried to process her best friend's motives for a Humphrey alliance and she could not find any.

"With a really nice tie," Charlie chimed in.

"Blair? Did you know he was coming?" Serena was observing Blair closely now. But her best friend seemed preoccupied with another side of the room.

"I'm sorry? I stopped listening as soon as I heard the word Dan." Blair thought that she had executed a classic Waldorf brush off. "Excuse me."

"I can't believe it." Serena threw up her hands in frustration. "She just lied to my face—even after I gave her the opportunity to tell me. It's not like I'm dating Dan, or getting back together with him, but the fact that they've been hiding this from me and she's suppose to be my best friend?" She placed her hands at her waist and glared in Blaire's direction.

"It didn't seem like she's lying." Charlie furrowed her brow. "What if she's really with the prince?"

Serena digested her cousin's input . If there was one thing she knew about Blair Waldorf, it was that she was insanely possessive. If she and Dan were sneaking around, then the threat of someone new would always provoke Blair's vulnerabilities. "Then she won't mind it if you flirt with Dan." Her eyes flickered from Charlie's face to Dan who was seemed to be deciding if the rose colored champagne was poisonous.

Blair finished her first glass of pink champagne quickly. She needed nerves of steel if she was going to execute a perfect 10 maneuver. She thought about the scene with Charlie and Serena—it was a little strange, all the pointing out and directing towards Dan. She shook her coiffed head, there was no way that either of them knew anything. Dan was wearing a nice tie, but how would they know it had anything to do with her? She felt the phone buzz in her hand—Lucien, Louis's handler, had arrived. Showtime. Blair looked around the room for Dan and she spotted that annoyance of a girl again, Charlie—who was having a grand time chatting with Dan and smiling a little too brightly.

"Excuse me." Blair immediately appeared at Dan's side. Sometimes, she had to do all the housekeeping on the Upper East Side, or no one would know his or her place. "This is Dan Humphrey, Serena's ex boyfriend, which makes him off-limits, to you." The five minute of good will towards Charlie had long faded. As soon as she appeared, Dan turned to look at Blair, bemused. She held his gaze and was instantly annoyed by the crinkle around his eyes. "And you should know better. Certain people might see you and think that the two of you are together."

Charlie was a little surprised. She didn't expect Blair to be so obvious with her jealousy around Dan, especially since it seemed like Blair was making such an effort to dismiss him in front of Serena. Charlie had seen evidence to the contrary already. When she spotted the pair at Paul Smith, they looked like any happy couple in love. They smiled at each other, she gesticulated, and he laughed. It was too bad that Blair never noticed the way that Dan looked at her—it was almost painful for Charlie to watch, it reminded her of something in her past. Charlie didn't blame Blair though. If she could grab Dan's well muscled arm whenever she could, she probably would too. Dan Humphrey was gorgeous. He had an easy laugh, a quick wit, and bone structure that could give Guy Pearce a run for his aussie dollars. Seriously, what was Blair thinking keeping this a friends-only relationship? Charlie sighed wistfully—it was too bad the man was clearly in love with Blair Waldorf—or at least harbored some unrequited feelings. There was nothing she could do…or was there?

"I need to speak to you about your behavior," Blair was saying. Charlie noticed that way Blair's hand grabbed onto Dan's bicep possessively but he didn't seem at all upset that his conversation had been interrupted. Dan eyes never left Blair's face. He must have noticed the daggers that Blair shot over to Charlie when she spat out, "Privately."

"For someone who's just a friend, you are awfully good at choreography reasons for us to kiss." He grinned at her.

"That's because I'm willing to suffer for love." Blair threw him a withering glance.

Dan placed his hand at the small of her back and guided them towards the staircase. "Whatever you say. Just no getting handsy."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"When Lucien walked in to get the bag, I saw his face." Blair was in front of him as they returned down the staircase to the party. "He totally bought it. You're very convincing."

Well, at least he had done something right. "Thanks, I guess." Dan felt a little unnerved, that kiss felt like more than a plot device, he tightened his throat. Right before they got to the bottom of the staircase, almost every cell phone in the room made a beeping noise. Blair's phone blipped too and she immediately grabbed her blackberry, something big was afoot.

And that something was an e-blast from Gossip Girl, a fuzzy video of her and Dan, misbegotten and making out. Dan was behind her, but she felt him move immediately closer. When she looked up, her mouth dropped open rather inelegantly and she saw the reactions of her minions, Eric, and all the other party goers in quick succession. It was way too much to handle and Blair knew exactly the person that she had to find to explain this whole fiasco. Dan was right again, she cursed herself silently as she grabbed his chest and lead him into the throng of gaping onlookers.

Blair was frantically searching for Serena when a flash of magenta sequins blurred her field of vision. It was Penelope, and she was being even more useless than usual.

"Blair Waldorf and Dan Humphrey, this is even better than my parent's divorce. Please tell me it's true."

"Uhhh." Blair stopped short of being outraged that anyone would think that she and Dan had any romantic connection, but she couldn't directly in front of Lucien. The charade would have to play on.

"Yes, it's true." She grabbed Dan's hand and held it to her chest like a trophy. To his credit, Dan played along beautifully, and flashed a shit-eating grin at Penelope. "Dan is my mystery date and we couldn't be happier." As soon as Lucien left, Blair felt her hand circle Dan's back and immediately began to drag him in her wake. "We have to find Serena, and explain this!"

They both spotted Serena, with an expression of dismay, in deep discussion with Louis Grimaldi—but it was a short conversation. Dan quickened his pace and followed Serena into her bedroom. Meanwhile, the party was still in complete awash in speculation. One society lady murmured that the entertainment had finally arrived.

"Serena, that video wasn't real." Dan opened his hands pleadingly. He looked at Blair, who appeared a few seconds later. "We did kiss, but it was staged."

"Even if I did believe you, what about the other time you guys kissed?" Serena kept her voice level. "Was that for Louis too?"

"Uh. It meant nothing. Like kissing my brother, if I had one." Blair's voice caught in her throat for a second. How did Serena find out about their first kiss? Chuck must have said something. "Like kissing your brother. It just made me realize I want to be with Chuck." She missed the strange look that Dan shot to her when she retread her old "Everything is Chuck" argument.

"I don't understand. How did you end up in a kiss in the first place? Any kiss?" Serena was getting exasperated. It was clear to her that her best friend and her ex were lying. None of the puzzle pieces about their secret meet ups or their sudden affinity for each other made sense at all. Serena knew that Dan and Blair had similar interest, but the past three years taught her that the only reason the two ever moved past their enormous animosity for each other was for her sake. And now—they were seeing each other, without her knowledge? It didn't make sense at all.

"We both were alone in the city over Christmas break—" Dan began, and Blair continued, "—and we ran into each other at the movies."

"—and then it kept happening after the break, only we started making plans to meet." Dan glanced at Blair for confirmation.

"—and even worse, enjoying it?" Blair tried to look pained.

If Serena wasn't so invested in the veracity of their statements, she would have been amused at Blair's bewildered face. "But you guys are my two closest friends, why couldn't you just tell me that?"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Yaah, sorry to cut off so abruptly, but I wanted to keep all my chapters close to the same length. Don't worry, the drawing room kiss is in the next chapter—after all, I have to make up for what the show won't show us! Let me know what you think? I love detailed feedback, helps with the writing.


	18. Blair I—I've been dreaming about this

A/N: Previously in Chapter 16, Dan and Blair are discovered at the Pink Party. Shit storm ensues. Also, this chapter is like super M. *blush*

"_We both were alone in the city over Christmas break—" Dan began, and Blair continued, "—and we ran into each other at the movies."_

"—_and then it kept happening after the break, only we started making plans to meet." Dan glanced at Blair for confirmation. _

"—_and even worse, enjoying it?" Blair tried to look pained. _

_If Serena wasn't so invested in the veracity of their statements, she would have been amused at Blair's bewildered face. "But you guys are my two closest friends, why couldn't you just tell me that?"_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"But you guys are my two closest friends, why couldn't you just tell me that?"

Serena studied the expression on their faces—Dan carefully clamp down on his emotions and Blair was per usual, overreacting. More importantly, Serena also noticed that her two friends were finishing each other's sentences. Exactly how long has this been going on? A deep vein of anger began to run hot in her chest. Serena couldn't pinpoint her discomfort, but she knew now that she was being left in the dark, and by her closest friends of all people! She regretted the events of the past several months and knew that she had spent too much time with the interlopers of the Upper East Side, including Ben and Juliet Sharpe.

Now that they were gone, she wanted her friends back. She needed her friends back. She needed Dan's support, his absolute enduring love for her to replenish the hollowness inside, he was her touchstone and if he began to fall in love with anyone else—no, that wasn't a possibility—she became even more hurt that he wouldn't even tell her about something that significant. She counted on him to love her more than anyone else in his life. Even when he started dating Vanessa, Serena still knew, darkly in the back of her mind, that one longing look and Dan would come back to her. Then, there was Blair. Serena always needed her too. This was beyond ridiculous—the two in front of her couldn't even come up with a decent explanation?

Dan shoved his hands in his pocket and glanced at the floor before looking Serena again. "I was hoping it would go away."

"I was humiliated," Blair pleaded with her, "Which is why we kissed."

"—to make sure that nothing else was complicating us," he gestured between himself and Blair, "and you," he resettled hopefully on Serena.

Serena pursed mouth suspiciously. "—And?"

"Biggest regret of my life," Blair was emphatic.

"That's a little—a little bit of an overstatement." Dan didn't want to make this a bigger deal than it already was, "But yes, it was not a good kiss."

"So you guys have been lying to me and sneaking around for months just so that you guys can hang out as friends?" Serena held herself stiffly, she was not buying it. Not any of it. Suddenly, the puzzle began snapping into place. She started to remember, in the whirlwind of the events that began with Ben's false conviction, that Blair had uncharacteristically defended Dan. And on Dan side, what was that whole situation at W? Serena did not expect to find him at Blair's office in the middle of the day, let alone delivering her tulips as a favor? At Eric's birthday party, Dan had said to Blair, in front of Serena, that Blair admitted to "needing him?" The pieces locked together and Serena's mouth became dry.

"Exactly, friends." Blair shrugged to show her indifference and nudged Dan for affirmation.

"Yeah, I swear." He mimicked Blair shoulders and kept steady, "Just friends."

"Well, I'm glad you two have found each other," Serena said tightly, "because you sure have lost me." She knew that the smartest thing to do was to get out of the room before she blew up at either of them, but she couldn't resist the last word. "I have to go."

Dan sucked in his breath for a second and let his hands drop to his side. He was amazed. After everything he had gone through for Serena, she was acting like a child over his friendship with Blair? He turned on his heel and left silently. One more minute and he would have been rehashing the events of the last few years. Her indecision between Nate and himself, the many ways Serena always took him for granted, but he drew himself back. Maybe Serena was just angry, or maybe, even scared that his friendship with Blair threatened hers with him. He shook his head, right now, he didn't really know what to do. He had to get home to Brooklyn. He could take of this goddamn stupid tie that was the symbol of this rigmarole between himself and Blair—all Dan wanted to was to drink the left over Peroni in his fridge and maybe brood a little.

Blair hadn't given up yet—maybe because she had long soldiered the days of sheparding irrational Serena out of the danger zone. How could this innocuous friendship with Dan be any worse? Serena looked angry and distraught so Blair walked a little closer.

"I'm really sorry S. I guess I was in denial." She was hoping that explaining herself would make her motives clear. Blair decided to insert a little levity and made a face, "I guess I didn't want to admit I'd started to understand the Humphrey appeal."

Instead of the warm tinkling laughter that Serena was known for, her friend shot back in voice that sounded like carved ice, "The only appeal that Dan ever had to you was that he was mine."

This was a slap in the face and Blair froze. As much as she knew Serena loved her, no one could cut her to the quick like Serena. After all, Serena knew all of Blair's pressure points, since she had hit them all. "You would see it that way." Her voice almost faltered. "Because it's always about you isn't it?"

Blair stepped back as Serena turned around to face her. "I'm sorry to break it to you, but Dan and I have a real connection. We did things like go to the DIA and debate Chabrol versus Roehmer. Things that we could never do with you!" Blair flinched since she knew she was implying that Serena wasn't smart enough to understand her or Dan, but the truth was Serena never tried to do anything outside of her immediate boyfriends. With Colin it was business, with Ben it was literature—the bachelor of the week was also Serena's new intellectual pursuit of the week. She was still smarting—she was Blair Waldorf and she wasn't interested in Serena's hand-me-downs. Besides, what did even mean that Serena claimed Dan as "hers?" Dan wasn't a trinket to be had. He was a man, a person whose steadfast loyalty and faith that Serena repaid in debts of forgetfulness and broken promises.

Narrowing her eyes, Serena shot back, "I'm sure that you and Dan and a deep connection, that is, until a prince came along."

"Of course." Blair waved her hand in disbelief. "Because that would be an even bigger threat to you!"

"What's that suppose to mean?"

Blair felt the bubbling jealousy and anger immediately rise to her mouth. There were so many times that Serena had unwittingly taken what she wanted from Blair. Serena took Nate, her mother's approval, Yale, and too many other things to count. She could not stop the flood of bile that was threatening to break. "You prefer when you are the one in the spotlight. But it's my turn now. You can have a taste of what's it is like to be in my shadow, for once." Blair began resolutely towards the doorway. "And now if you'll excuse me, my prince awaits."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x-x-

Dan took another gulp of his warm beer. How many was it now? Five? Seven? He didn't really bother to count. He sat in the dark of his office and contemplated what he had just confessed to Charlie. He had unexpectedly admitted his crush on Blair to a stranger—she was family, but stranger nevertheless. He guessed that he did it because someone else was able to see clearly when he couldn't. Dan groaned and rested his head on his desk. This situation was impossible. He had to stop seeing Blair if he wanted to make it through the next few months of her, in tabloid terms, canoodling with royalty. When he told her that she had a prince waiting, he didn't think about all the vestigial royal houses that were still figureheads, he had meant it metaphorically.

He allowed himself a moment of weakness and fell back into the events of earlier tonight. He had joked with Blair about her not getting "handsy" with him, but even he knew that sounded ridiculous. The moment she stepped within distance, he swallowed hard and placed his hands lightly on her waist. She looked every bit the princess in her pink strapless dress—he couldn't take his eyes off the tantalizing fitted bodice that rose in a slender column and cupped her small breasts gently. His eyes grazed across her collarbone where he noticed that her breathing was jagged and finally he lifted his gaze to her lips. She was gently chewing on her lower lip and her eyes were wide and searching—a bit unhinged by the attention. It didn't feel like a prelude to a fake kiss.

Instead of grabbing his lapel like their first time, she rested her hand demurly on his shoulder and finally smiled encouragingly and he closed the distance between them. The first time they kissed, he was caught off guard by her. This time, he took the lead. He began slow and steady, her mouth opened slightly, and Dan increased the intensity of their kiss—this was no drawing room display of affection, he tried to rein himself in but instead failed spectacular. His fingers flexed and pressed urgently at her waist and instead of pushing him away, Blair grip on his shoulder tightened and she swayed closer to him. His heart leaped until he heard the faint click of something mechanical through the fog. Suddenly, Blair broke off the kiss and pushed herself quickly away. She looked flushed and thoroughly kissed. He almost wanted to give her his usual half-cocked smile, but her expression quickly became impossible to read again. The tremors of emotions that he saw for half a second vanished—Dan thought he was imagining things again. He didn't see a trace of the girl who had ardently kissed him back a few minutes earlier. Instead, Blair was all business, smoothing down her hair and reapplying her lipstick. When she turned around again, her face was bland but friendly, with no trace of its calm disturbed.

He had lied. He had lied to her when he said that the kiss meant nothing to him like it did to her. Tonight had just proven how rapidly he was falling down the rabbit hole. And after the year he had with Serena and losing Milo, his heart felt sorely punched, he couldn't afford another deadly blow—he didn't want to feel that tightening in his chest again with the loss of someone else he wanted. His logical brain began to take over. He chuckled bitterly to himself. Here he was again, Dan Humphrey, bachelor number three. At the opening of the New York Ballet in the late autumn of last year, he had stood with Nate, bachelor number two and his best friend, while Serena glommed onto Colin Forrester hours after she had called Dan to be her date for the same event. The two men had understood each other's disappointment, more than anyone else.

Now it was Blair Waldorf, and he was third in line to Chuck Bass and Prince Grimaldi. He groaned. This was actually a hundred times worse than Serena. At least with Serena, he knew that she had loved him once. With Blair, who was he kidding, he wasn't even in the running. She had said, at point blank, that their first kiss only made her want Chuck again. Though her conclusion defied logic, Dan was too tired to reason through her argument.

All he knew was that the time spent with her made him exhilarated and oddly enough, appreciated—she showed him a side of herself he hadn't seen her reveal to anyone else. Dan finally saw the light, and under it, shone Blair Waldorf—and now, he found it nearly impossible to look away.

He was all alone in the loft, his eyes long adjusted to the darkness of the office, when he heard a slight jangling noise at his door. His breath caught in his chest, it couldn't be? He saw the Gossip Girl blast that was sent only three hours earlier, Blair caught in a kiss with the Prince that could rival the montage of _Cinema Paradiso's_ last five minutes. He rose out of his chair and unsteadily walked to the kitchen.

She stood in the doorway of his apartment, barefoot, dangling her shoes by the fingers, and walked towards him swiftly.

"Blair? Wha-what are you doing here?" He couldn't be sure if this was a trick of his mind.

"Humphrey. What the hell did you do back there?" With her shoulders squared, she walked stiffly towards him, anger written all over her face.

"I don't understand?"

"That kiss at the Van Der Woodsen's? Fut the wuckwas that?" Her head tipped up defiantly to his confused expression—she was a few inches shorter than him barefoot but she still commanded the whole space of the room. She was also unnervingly close, poking her index finger into his chest with a stabbing motion, as if she wanted to penetrate his heart with her digits.

"You said to be convincing. I was being a good friend, and as the caretaker of your happiness, I had to make sure that Lucien bought it." His speech was happily slurred as Dan's eyes drank her in, she was again angry with him and her eyes flashed with fire in a way that he had come to love. "So the prince. Is Blair Waldorf royalty now? What's royalty doin' in Brooklyn anyways? Milady?" He couldn't close off the stream of crap coming out of his mouth and bowed comically at the waist.

"So, you think you're the care taker of my happiness?" She looked like she was on the verging of screaming. Her voice kept rising in volume. "Please, don't flatter yourself. I can take care of my own happiness. I'm making it for myself." She slammed her fist down on the counter in surprisingly forceful move. "How dare you interfere?"

"To get you barefoot in my kitchen?" He straighten his back and tried a half smile.

"You don't mean anything to me. A few movies and some misbegotten make outs mean less than nothing."

"Why are you here?" Dan bent down and whispered in her ear.

"To let you know, that—you don't mean anything." She breathed weakly now that his hand caressed the back of her neck. Dan seemed intent on ignoring whatever logical statements she was making. He was already lost—drawing her closer, he wrapped his arms around her waist and hoisted her to chest, and his mouth was on hers in an instant. She didn't push him away, but instead held firm against the onslaught of him crushing her to his body and tenderly began to kiss him back. Dan opened her lips and began a slow, tortuous exploration of her sweet mouth; he felt her smiling.

Blair's hands quickly working the few buttons of his shirt that were left done and quickly pushed it off his shoulders. Her little hands rapidly skimmed the top of his shoulders and up to either side of his face. She drew him close and kissed him again, full of fire and volatility, and he was sure that this was all a dream. They were a tangle of limbs that bumped into the first horizon surface, the kitchen table; Blair sat back onto the table's surface and pulled Dan down to her. He was deliriously happy. He wanted to bury himself into her softness, the hands that ran upon and down the muscles of his back felt anxious and he didn't mind the sharpness of her nails as he gently grinded into her.

"Blair. I—I've been dreaming about this."

"Shut up Dan. And use your mouth for more useful things."

He chuckled before he pushed her down onto the table and rested on his elbows, his hands twisted and grasped into her thick chestnut brown hair—her lips looked bruised, but he couldn't resist. Every time he moved his mouth over hers, he gently tugged at her lower lip with his teeth and Blair began to make kitten like noises in the back of her throat. She drew her legs up and crossed her ankles loosely around his hips and he fumbled with the zipper to the back of her pink dress. She sat up and he jerked the zipper down quickly, his hands pushed the fabric from her back and unpeeled the husk of her dress. With her bodice unzipped, Blair's torso emerged naked from the bloom of skirt fabric. His hands rested at her waist and slowly began their ascent on either side of her slender torso. His hands looked large and imposing next to the creaminess of her small ribcage—his thumbs slowly swept up and trace the under curve of her petite breasts. He noticed how the quick rise and fall of her breasts as he stroked the gently curved sides with each thumb.

She was so lovely in his hands that for once, his loss of words didn't feel awkward. He could write for hours describing every line, every blush, every slight sound Blair made as he bent his head down and took her already hard nipple between his teeth. Her back arched towards him as he nuzzled the soft valley between her breasts and worked his way down with one kiss at a time to her navel. He let one hand wander away from her ribcage—his left hand pushed up the fabric of her a skirt and he lingered for a moment at the contrast of the dark mesh stockings held with a garter belt against her thighs. She was panting now. Dan grinned at her as he hooked his forefingers around the dark lace of her panties and discarded the scrap of fabric. He moved his hands slowly, first through the tumble of her curls and then tentatively to the wetness between her thighs.

She leaned back on her elbows—and at the first contact of his finger onto her center of pleasure, she cried out sharply quickly reached out to find his shoulder. She braced herself against him as he slowly moved his fingers through her slick pussy while his thumb lazily circled her clit. He could feel that hot and wet center of hers, beginning to pulse ever so slightly as she clung to his shoulder and buried her face in his neck. He stopped for a moment and she raise her eyes to look at him. Her face was brimming with desire, something that he never wanted to forget. He held her aloft with one arm while his other hand fucked her, allowing him to greedily observe the point of her orgasm. Blair's pretty mouth was slightly parted, her hair completely undone with tendrils clinging to her forehead as she glowed with a sheen of moisture all over her torso—his brain slowly memorized the notch at her collarbone, the tender nipples standing to attention, the sharply nipped waist, but most of all he fastened on her eyes, which were indescribably dark.

"You are so incredibly beautiful," Dan murmured into her ear.

He took the fingers that were inserted inside her and placed them into his mouth, nothing could be sweeter. Blair watched him, shocked, but then deep throaty whimper came out and she leaned forward to gasp,

"Dan. I need—"

Before Blair could say what she needed, a harsh alarm went off in his ear and Dan jerked awake. When he opened his eyes, he didn't have Blair in his arms, and his head was still on the desk of his office. Dan whipped around in his office chair and shaded his eyes against the harsh sunlight. He began to assess his surroundings. The loft was completely empty, not a thing out of place, and certainly not a Miss Waldorf left panting and writhing on his kitchen table. The table looked like it always did, clean with a bowl of fruit undisturbed. He pinched the bridge of his nose and realized that the dull ache was probably the result of the last two beers too many. Today was going to be a long day. He needed a cold shower. Maybe twenty.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x-x-x-x

Aw, poor Dan. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue the recaps for the last three episodes, they've really sucked lately. Let me know what you think! Reviews are dearly appreciated and welcomed.


End file.
